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PlainSpell

volunteer

vol·un·teer/ˌvɑlənˈtɪɹ/noun, verb

volunteer is spelled V-O-L-U-N-T-E-E-R, 3 syllables: vol·un·teer. The wrong spelling people search most is volonteer: about 40 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 833 of all searches for the word. Volunteer is a noun meaning “One who enters into, or offers themselves for, any service of their own free will, especially when done…”. The plural of volunteer is volunteers.

How many letters and syllables are in volunteer?

Letters9: V-O-L-U-N-T-E-E-R
Syllables3: vol·un·teer
In writing19 times per million words; the 4,444th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched2; the most searched, volonteer, about 40 Bing searches a month (all of them)
Rhymes with

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

How do you spell volunteer?

Volunteer is spelled V-O-L-U-N-T-E-E-R. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 549 of the searches for volunteer in either form.

volunteerthe right spelling32,860 searches a month
volonteero in place of u40 searches a month
volounteeran extra o20 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 volunteer?

Volunteer appears 19 times per million words in written English, the 4,444th 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 volunteer?

  • UK /ˌvɒl(ə)nˈtɪə/
  • US /ˌvɑlənˈtɪɹ/
  • US /-ˈtɪɚ/

Volunteer has 3 syllables, split vol·un·teer in writing.

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

What rhymes with volunteer?

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

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 volunteer

  • volunteers plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • volunteering participle, present
  • volunteered participle, past

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

What does volunteer mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    One who enters into, or offers themselves for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay.

    The volunteers at the nature reserve meet up ever other Sunday to help its upkeep.

  2. 2

    One who enters into military service voluntarily (but who, when in service, is subject to discipline and regulations like other soldiers), as opposed to a conscript.

  3. 3

    A voluntary member of the organized militia of a country, as distinguished from a regular or member of the standing army.

  4. 4

    A person who acts out of their own will without a legal obligation, such as a donor.

  5. 5

    A plant that grows spontaneously, without being cultivated on purpose; see volunteer plant in Wikipedia.

  6. 6

    A native or resident of the American state of Tennessee.

verb

  1. 1

    To enlist oneself as a volunteer.

  2. 2

    To do or offer to do something voluntarily.

    to volunteer for doing the dishes

  3. 3

    To offer, usually unprompted.

    to volunteer an explanation

  4. 4

    informalTo offer the services of (someone else) to do something.

    My sister volunteered me to do the dishes.

  5. 5

    To grow without human sowing or intentional cultivation.

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

Volunteer in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchvolontaire, bénévole (one who voluntarily offers themselves for…), se porter volontaire (to enlist oneself as a volunteer), être bénévole, être volontaire (to do or offer to do something voluntarily)
GermanFreiwilliger, Freiwillige, Ehrenamtlicher, Ehrenamtliche (one who voluntarily offers themselves for…), sich freiwillig melden (to enlist oneself as a volunteer), anbieten (to do or offer to do something voluntarily)
Portuguesevoluntário (one who voluntarily offers themselves for…)
Spanishvoluntario (one who voluntarily offers themselves for…), voluntariarse, avoluntariarse, envoluntariarse (to enlist oneself as a volunteer), comedirse, ofrecerse (to do or offer to do something voluntarily)

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 volunteer come from?

Borrowed from Middle French voluntaire, from Latin voluntārius (“willing, voluntary”); or from voluntary + -eer.

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

What to look up after volunteer