caramel
car·a·mel/ˈkæɹ.ə.mɛl/noun, adjective, verb
caramel is spelled C-A-R-A-M-E-L: 7 letters and 3 syllables (car·a·mel). It appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,368th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “caramel vs carmel” about 9,900 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, caramel means “A smooth, chewy, sticky confection made by heating sugar and other ingredients until the sugars polymerize and become sticky” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of caramel is caramels.
How many letters and syllables are in caramel?
| Letters | 7: C-A-R-A-M-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: car·a·mel |
| In writing | 3.0 times per million words; the 15,368th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Same letters |
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 common is caramel?
Caramel appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,368th 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 caramel?
- UK /ˈkæ.ɹəˌmɛl/
- UK /ˈkæ.ɹə.məl/
- US /ˈkæɹ.ə.mɛl/
Caramel has 3 syllables, split car·a·mel in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-caramel.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-caramel.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with caramel
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: carmel.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with caramel?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as caramel (/æɹəmɛl/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: cameral.
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 caramel
- caramels plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- carameling US, participle, present
- caramelling UK, participle, present
- carameled US, participle, past
- caramelled UK, participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does caramel mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A smooth, chewy, sticky confection made by heating sugar and other ingredients until the sugars polymerize and become sticky.
- 2
A (sometimes hardened) piece of this confection.
- 3
A yellow-brown color, like that of caramel.
adjective
- 1
Of a yellow-brown color.
verb
- 1
datedTo caramelize.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Caramel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | caramel |
| German | Karamell, Caramel , Karamelle, Karamellbonbon, Karamellzuckerl |
| Portuguese | caramelo |
| Spanish | caramelo, dulce de leche, natillas, manjar blanco, cajeta, arequipe |
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 caramel come from?
Borrowed from French caramel, from Spanish caramelo, from Portuguese caramelo, dissimilated from Late Latin calamellus, diminutive of calamus (“reed”) (and a doublet of chalumeau and shawm). Alternatively from Medieval Latin cannamellis, which is a compound of canna + mellis.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).