ten
/tɛn/number, noun
ten is spelled T-E-N: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 112 times per million words in written English, the 951st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a number, ten means “The number occurring after nine and before eleven, represented in Arabic numerals (base ten) as 10 and in Roman numerals as X” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in ten?
| Letters | 3: T-E-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 112 times per million words; the 951st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is ten?
Ten appears 112 times per million words in written English, the 951st 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 ten?
- US /tɛn/
- US [tʰɛn]
- /tɪn/
Ten 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-inlandnorth-ten.ogg, En-us-ten.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with ten
Also written: number 10.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with ten?
11 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as ten from its last stressed vowel (/ɛn/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: net, ent.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of ten
- tens plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ten mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
number
- 1
The number occurring after nine and before eleven, represented in Arabic numerals (base ten) as 10 and in Roman numerals as X.
noun
- 1
A set or group with ten elements.
We divided the chocolates into tens to hand out to Hallowe'en visitors.
- 2
An inexact quantity, typically understood to be between 20 and 100.
Our houses are tens of meters apart, so we don't have to worry about noise from our neighbours.
- 3
A card in a given suit with a value of ten.
- 4
A denomination of currency, such as a banknote, with a value of ten units.
Can you give me two tens for this twenty?
- 5
USslangA perfect specimen, (particularly) a physically attractive person.
- 6
USslangA high level of intensity.
- 7
The act of rowing ten strokes flat out.
noun
- 1
Initialism of toxic epidermal necrolysis.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ten in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 ten come from?
From Middle English ten, tene, from Old English tīen, from Proto-West Germanic *tehun, from Proto-Germanic *tehun, from Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥. Cognate with Scots ten, tene (“ten”), West Frisian tsien (“ten”), Saterland Frisian tjoon (“ten”), North Frisian tiin (“ten”). See also teen.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).