summarize
/ˈsʌməˌɹaɪz/verb
summarize is spelled S-U-M-M-A-R-I-Z-E: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,516th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “summarise vs summarize” about 50 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, summarize means “To prepare a summary of (something)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in summarize?
| Letters | 9: S-U-M-M-A-R-I-Z-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.7 times per million words; the 21,516th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people 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); 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 common is summarize?
Summarize appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,516th 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 summarize?
- US /ˈsʌməˌɹaɪz/
Summarize has 3 syllables (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-summarize.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-summarise.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with summarize
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: summarise.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of summarize
- summarizes present, singular, he/she/it
- summarizing participle, present
- summarized participle, past
- summarise
- sumize
- summize
- sumise
- summise
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does summarize mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To prepare a summary of (something).
Jim was asked to summarize the document by Wednesday.
- 2
To give a recapitulation of the salient facts; to recapitulate or review.
After the meeting, Jim summarized the major decisions made.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Summarize in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to prepare a summary:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | résumer, récapituler |
| German | zusammenfassen |
| Portuguese | resumir |
| Spanish | resumir |
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 summarize come from?
From summary + -ize.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).