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PlainSpell

wring

/ɹɪŋ/verb, noun

wring is spelled W-R-I-N-G: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 39,336th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “ring vs wring” about 70 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, wring means “Often followed by out: to squeeze or twist (something moist) tightly so that liquid is forced out” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in wring?

Letters5: W-R-I-N-G
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 39,336th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
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 common is wring?

Wring appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 39,336th 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 wring?

  • US /ɹɪŋ/
  • /ˈɹɪŋɡ/

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

Words people confuse with wring

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

ring vs wring70 G

Sounds like: ring (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

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

What rhymes with wring?

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

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 wring

  • wrings present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • wringing participle, present
  • wrung participle, past
  • wringed participle, past, rare, singular, he/she/it, plural

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

What does wring mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    Often followed by out: to squeeze or twist (something moist) tightly so that liquid is forced out.

    I didn’t have a towel so I just wrung my hair dry.

  2. 2

    To squeeze water (from an item of wet clothing) by passing through a wringer.

  3. 3

    Often followed by from or out: to extract (a liquid) from something wet by squeezing, twisting, or otherwise putting pressure on it.

    Put the berries into a cheesecloth and wring the juice into a bowl.

  4. 4

    To hold (someone or something) tightly and press or twist; to wrest.

    to wring someone’s hand

  5. 5

    To clasp and twist (hands) together due to distress, sorrow, etc.

    to wring one’s hands with worry

  6. 6

    To bend or strain (something) out of its position; to wrench, to wrest.

    to wring a mast

  7. 7

    To contort or screw up (the face or its features).

  8. 8

    To twist or wind (something) into coils; to coil.

noun

  1. 1

    A powerful squeezing or twisting action.

    I grasped his hand and gave it a grateful wring.

  2. 2

    datedFollowed by down: the product of wringing, such as cider or wine.

  3. 3

    obsoleteA sharp physical pain, especially in the abdomen; also, mental pain or distress.

  4. 4

    archaicA device for compressing or pressing, especially for making cheese, cider from apples, or wine from grapes.

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

Wring in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchessorer (to squeeze or twist (something moist) tightly…)
Germanwringen, auswringen (to squeeze or twist (something moist) tightly…)
Portuguesetorcer (to squeeze or twist (something moist) tightly…), arrancar (to obtain (something) from or out of a person…)
Spanishexprimir, retorcer, escurrir, estrujar, lagarear (to squeeze or twist (something moist) tightly…)

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 wring come from?

From Middle English wring, wringe, wringen, wryng, wrynge, wryngen, wryngyn, from Old English wringan (“to wring”), from Proto-Germanic *wringaną (“to squeeze, twist, wring”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wrenǵʰ- (“to squeeze, wring”).

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

What to look up after wring