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PlainSpell

verse

/ˈvɝs/noun, verb

verse is spelled V-E-R-S-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,309th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “verse vs versus” about 1,000 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, verse means “A poetic form with regular meter and a fixed rhyme scheme” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of verse is verses or 'verses.

How many letters and syllables are in verse?

Letters5: V-E-R-S-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing15 times per million words; the 5,309th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people 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); 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 common is verse?

Verse appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,309th 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 verse?

  • UK /vɜːs/
  • US /ˈvɝs/
  • UK /ˈvɜːs/

Verse 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-verse.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with verse

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

verse vs versus1,000 G

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with verse?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as verse from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹs/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: serve, sever.

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 verse

  • verses plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • versing participle, present
  • versed participle, past
  • 'verses plural

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

What does verse mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A poetic form with regular meter and a fixed rhyme scheme.

    Restoration literature is well known for its carefully constructed verse.

  2. 2

    Poetic form in general.

    The restrictions of verse have steadily been relaxed over time.

  3. 3

    One of several similar units of a song, consisting of several lines, generally rhymed.

    Note the shift in tone between the first verse and the second.

  4. 4

    A small section of a holy book (Bible, Quran etc.)

  5. 5

    A portion of an anthem to be performed by a single voice to each part.

verb

  1. 1

    obsoleteTo compose verses.

  2. 2

    To tell in verse, or poetry.

  3. 3

    to educate about, to teach about.

    He versed us in the finer points of category theory.

  4. 4

    colloquialproscribedTo oppose, to compete against.

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

How do you abbreviate verse?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of verse: ver..

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

Verse in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchvers (poetic form with regular meter and a fixed…), couplet (one of several similar units of a song…), verset (a small section of the Bible)
GermanVers (poetic form with regular meter and a fixed…), Strophe (one of several similar units of a song…)
Portugueseverso (poetic form with regular meter and a fixed…), versículo (a small section of the Bible)
Spanishversículo, verso (poetic form with regular meter and a fixed…), estrofa (one of several similar units of a song…)

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 verse come from?

From Middle English vers, from a mixture of Old English fers and Old French vers; both from Latin versus (“a line in writing, and in poetry a verse; (originally) row, furrow”), from vertō (“to turn around”).

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

What to look up after verse