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PlainSpell

throttle

UK /ˈθɹɒtəl/noun, verb

throttle is spelled T-H-R-O-T-T-L-E. The wrong spelling people search most is throddle: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 89 of all searches for the word. Throttle is a noun meaning “A valve that regulates the supply of fuel-air mixture to an internal combustion engine and thus controls its…”. The plural of throttle is throttles.

How many letters and syllables are in throttle?

Letters8: T-H-R-O-T-T-L-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.0 times per million words; the 15,613th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, throddle, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them)
Rhymes with

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How do you spell throttle?

Throttle is spelled T-H-R-O-T-T-L-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 89 of the searches for throttle in either form.

throttlethe right spelling1,760 searches a month
throddled in place of t, d in place of t20 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 throttle?

Throttle appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,613th 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 throttle?

  • UK /ˈθɹɒtəl/
  • UK [ˈθɹɒtl̩]
  • British /ˈθɹɔtəl/

Throttle has 2 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-throttle.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with throttle?

One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as throttle from its last stressed vowel (/ɒtəl/, British pronunciation):

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 throttle

  • throttles plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • throttling participle, present
  • throttled participle, past

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

What does throttle mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A valve that regulates the supply of fuel-air mixture to an internal combustion engine and thus controls its speed; a similar valve that controls the air supply to an engine.

  2. 2

    The lever or pedal that controls this valve.

  3. 3

    archaicThe windpipe or trachea.

verb

  1. 1

    To control or adjust the speed of (an engine).

  2. 2

    To cut back on the speed of (an engine, person, organization, network connection, etc.).

  3. 3

    To strangle or choke someone.

  4. 4

    To have the throat obstructed so as to be in danger of suffocation; to choke; to suffocate.

  5. 5

    To breathe hard, as when nearly suffocated.

  6. 6

    To utter with breaks and interruption, in the manner of a person half suffocated.

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

Throttle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchaccélérateur (valve), limiter (to cut back speed), étrangler (to strangle someone)
GermanDrossel (valve), drosseln (to cut back speed), würgen (to strangle someone), Gaspedal (the lever or pedal that controls this valve)
Portugueseválvula reguladora (valve), estrangular (to strangle someone), acelerador (the lever or pedal that controls this valve)
Spanishacelerador (valve), ralentizar, limitar, lentificar, enlentecer, desacelerar (to cut back speed)

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 throttle come from?

From Middle English *throtel, diminutive of throte (“throat”), equivalent to throat + -le. Compare German Drossel (“throttle”). More at throat.

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

What to look up after throttle