sponge
/spʌnd͡ʒ/noun, verb
sponge is spelled S-P-O-N-G-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.9 times per million words in written English, the 13,127th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sponge means “Any of various marine invertebrates of the phylum Porifera, that have a porous skeleton often of silica” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sponge is sponges.
How many letters and syllables are in sponge?
| Letters | 6: S-P-O-N-G-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.9 times per million words; the 13,127th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is sponge?
Sponge appears 3.9 times per million words in written English, the 13,127th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce sponge?
- /spʌnd͡ʒ/
Sponge has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-sponge.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of sponge
- sponges plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- sponging participle, present
- sponged participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sponge mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of various marine invertebrates of the phylum Porifera, that have a porous skeleton often of silica.
- 2
A piece of porous material used for washing (originally made from the invertebrates, now often made of plastic).
- 3
The porous material that synthetic washing sponges are made of.
- 4
informalA heavy drinker.
- 5
A type of light cake.
- 6
UKA type of steamed pudding.
- 7
slangA person who takes advantage of the generosity of others (abstractly imagined to absorb or soak up the money or efforts of others like a sponge).
- 8
A person who readily absorbs ideas.
verb
- 1
slangTo take advantage of the kindness of others.
He has been sponging off his friends for a month now.
- 2
To get by imposition; to scrounge.
July 17 1735, Jonathan Swift, letter to Lord Ornery I am an utter stranger to the persons and places, except when half a score come to sponge on me every Sunday evening
- 3
To deprive (somebody) of something by imposition.
- 4
To clean, soak up, or dab with a sponge.
- 5
To suck in, or imbibe, like a sponge.
- 6
To wipe out with a sponge, as letters or writing; to efface; to destroy all trace of.
- 7
To be converted, as dough, into a light, spongy mass by the agency of yeast or leaven.
- 8
To use a piece of wild sponge as a tool when foraging for food.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sponge in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | éponge , ivrogne, soulard , éponger |
| German | Schwamm , Schnorrer , schnorren |
| Portuguese | esponja |
| Spanish | esponja , cafiche, gorrón , cafichear, gorronear, gallofear |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does sponge come from?
From Middle English sponge, from Old English spunge, taken from Latin spongia, from Ancient Greek σπογγιά (spongiá), from σπόγγος (spóngos). Displaced native Old English swamm (“fungus, sponge”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).