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versatile

/ˈvɝ.sə.təl/adjective

versatile is spelled V-E-R-S-A-T-I-L-E. The wrong spelling people search most is versitile: about 350 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 11 of all searches for the word. Versatile is an adjective meaning “Capable of doing many things competently”.

How many letters and syllables are in versatile?

Letters9: V-E-R-S-A-T-I-L-E
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing4.6 times per million words; the 11,870th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, versitile, about 350 Bing searches a month (all of them)

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 do you spell versatile?

Versatile is spelled V-E-R-S-A-T-I-L-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 11 of the searches for versatile in either form.

versatilethe right spelling3,360 searches a month
versitilei in place of a350 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 versatile?

Versatile appears 4.6 times per million words in written English, the 11,870th 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 versatile?

  • UK /ˈvɜː.səˌtaɪl/
  • UK [ˈvɜː.səˌtaɪɫ]
  • US /ˈvɝ.sə.təl/

Versatile 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-I_learned_some_phrases-versatile.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-NaomiAmethyst-versatile.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of versatile

  • more versatile comparative
  • most versatile superlative

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

What does versatile mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    Capable of doing many things competently.

  2. 2

    Having varied uses or many functions.

  3. 3

    Changeable or inconstant.

  4. 4

    Capable of moving freely in all directions.

  5. 5

    Synonym of vers (“Willing to take either a penetrative or receptive role in anal sex”).

  6. 6

    Being a switch; capable of taking either a dominant or a submissive role.

  7. 7

    Capable of being either a dominant or a submissive partner in a sexual relationship.

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

How do you abbreviate versatile?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of versatile: vers.

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

Versatile in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpolyvalent (capable of doing many things competently), versatile (having varied uses or many functions)
Germanbewandt, beweglich, gewandt (capable of doing many things competently), vielseitig (having varied uses or many functions), wandlungsfähig, wendig (changeable or inconstant)
Portugueseversátil (capable of doing many things competently)
Spanishversátil (capable of doing many things competently), multiuso, multívoco (having varied uses or many functions)

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 versatile come from?

From Latin versātilis (“turning easily”), from versātus, past participle of versō (“to turn, change”), frequentative of vertō (“to turn”).

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

What to look up after versatile