twice
/twaɪs/adverb
twice is spelled T-W-I-C-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 69 times per million words in written English, the 1,528th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, twice means “Two times” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in twice?
| Letters | 5: T-W-I-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 69 times per million words; the 1,528th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in 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).
How common is twice?
Twice appears 69 times per million words in written English, the 1,528th 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 twice?
- /twaɪs/
- [tw̥aɪs]
Twice 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-twice.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What does twice mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
Two times.
You should brush your teeth twice a day.
- 2
Doubled in quantity, intensity, or degree.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Twice in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | deux fois |
| German | zweimal, doppelt |
| Portuguese | duas vezes, duplamente |
| Spanish | dos veces, doblemente, bis , el doble de, el duplo de |
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 twice come from?
From earlier twise, from Middle English twies, twiȝes, from Old English twīġes (“twice”), from twīwa, twīġa ("twice"; whence Middle English twie (“twice”)) + -es (adverbial genitive ending). Related to Saterland Frisian twäie (“twice”), Middle Low German twiges, twies (“twice”), Middle High German zwies (“twice”). Equivalent to twi- (“(in) two; both”) + -ce. Similarly constructed to the prefixes bis- and dis-, borrowed from Indo-European cognates.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).