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PlainSpell

text

/tɛkst/noun, verb

text is spelled T-E-X-T. The wrong spelling people search most is tekst: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 1,111 of all searches for the word. Text is a noun meaning “A writing consisting of multiple glyphs, characters, symbols or sentences”. The plural of text is texts.

How many letters and syllables are in text?

Letters4: T-E-X-T
Syllables1
In writing102 times per million words; the 1,048th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, tekst, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them)

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 text?

Text is spelled T-E-X-T. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 1,065 of the searches for text in either form.

textthe right spelling21,270 searches a month
tekstan extra k, s in place of x20 searches a month

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 text?

Text appears 102 times per million words in written English, the 1,048th 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 text?

  • /tɛkst/

Text has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-text.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with text

Also written: tex.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of text

  • texts plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • texting participle, present
  • texted participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does text mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A writing consisting of multiple glyphs, characters, symbols or sentences.

  2. 2

    A book, tome or other set of writings.

  3. 3

    Anything chosen as the subject of an argument, literary composition, etc.

  4. 4

    colloquialEllipsis of text message, a brief written message transmitted between mobile phones.

  5. 5

    Data which can be interpreted as human-readable text.

  6. 6

    A verse or passage of Scripture, especially one chosen as the subject of a sermon, or in proof of a doctrine.

  7. 7

    A style of writing in large characters; also, a kind of type used in printing.

    German text

verb

  1. 1

    To send a text message to; i.e. to transmit text using the Short Message Service (SMS), or a similar service, between communications devices, particularly mobile phones.

    Just text me when you get here.

  2. 2

    To send and receive text messages.

    Have you been texting all afternoon?

  3. 3

    datedTo write in large characters, as in text hand.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Text in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtexte (a written passage), texto, SMS (a brief written message transmitted between…), textoter (to send a text message to)
GermanText (a written passage), SMS (a brief written message transmitted between…), simsen (to send a text message to)
Portuguesetexto (a written passage), torpedo, mensagem (a brief written message transmitted between…)
Spanishtexto (a written passage), textear (to send a text message to)

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 text come from?

From Middle English text, from Old French texte, from Medieval Latin textus, from Latin textus (“style or texture of a work”), perfect passive participle of texō (“to weave”). Cognate to texture.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after text