stretch
/stɹɛt͡ʃ/verb, noun
stretch is spelled S-T-R-E-T-C-H. The wrong spelling people search most is strech: about 540 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Stretch is a verb meaning “To lengthen by pulling”.
How many letters and syllables are in stretch?
| Letters | 7: S-T-R-E-T-C-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 22 times per million words; the 3,939th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, strech, about 540 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell stretch?
Stretch is spelled S-T-R-E-T-C-H. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for stretch in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is stretch?
Stretch appears 22 times per million words in written English, the 3,939th 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 stretch?
- /stɹɛt͡ʃ/
Stretch 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-stretch.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-stretch.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of stretch
- stretches present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- stretching participle, present
- stretched participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does stretch mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To lengthen by pulling.
I stretched the rubber band until it almost broke.
- 2
To lengthen when pulled.
The rubber band stretched almost to the breaking point.
- 3
To pull tight.
First, stretch the skin over the frame of the drum.
- 4
To extend one’s limbs or another part of the body, for example in order to improve the elasticity of one's muscles.
I always stretch my muscles before exercising.
- 5
To extend physically, especially from a limit point and/or to a limit point.
The beach stretches from Cresswell to Amble.
- 6
To get more use than expected from a limited resource.
I managed to stretch my coffee supply a few more days.
- 7
To make inaccurate by exaggeration.
To say crossing the street was brave is stretching the meaning of "brave" considerably.
- 8
To make great demands on the capacity or resources of something.
Her bizarre explanation really stretches credulity.
noun
- 1
An act of stretching.
I was right in the middle of a stretch when the phone rang.
- 2
The ability to lengthen when pulled.
That rubber band has quite a bit of stretch.
- 3
A course of thought which diverts from straightforward logic, or requires extraordinary belief or exaggeration.
It's a bit of a stretch to call Boris Karloff a comedian.
- 4
A segment of a journey or route.
It was an easy trip except for the last stretch, which took forever.
- 5
A segment or length of material.
a stretch of cloth
- 6
UKarchaicslangA walk.
In the afternoon I went for a stretch into the country, & about 4 it cleared up pretty well, so I hurried back & we got a cart & drove to Bassano, a little town about 8 miles off, that we wanted to see.
- 7
A quick pitching delivery used when runners are on base where the pitcher slides his leg instead of lifting it.
- 8
A long reach in the direction of the ball with a foot remaining on the base by a first baseman in order to catch the ball sooner.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Stretch in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | étirer, étendre , s'étendre , s'étirer , étirement |
| German | strecken, dehnen, langziehen , sich dehnen, ausleiern, sich strecken |
| Portuguese | esticar , espreguiçar-se, alongar-se , alongamento , elasticidade , trecho |
| Spanish | estirar , estirón, estiramiento , estirarse, dar , elasticidad |
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 stretch come from?
From Middle English strecchen, from Old English streċċan (“to stretch, hold out, extend, spread out, prostrate”), from Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan (“to stretch, make taut or tight”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)treg-, *streg-, *treg- (“stiff, rigid”). Cognate with West Frisian strekke, Dutch strekken (“to stretch, straighten”), German strecken (“to stretch, straighten, elongate”), Danish strække (“to stretch”), Swedish sträcka (“to stretch”), Dutch strak (“taut, tight”), Albanian shtriqem (“to stretch”). More at stark.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).