ceiling
ceil·ing/ˈsilɪŋ/noun, verb
ceiling is spelled C-E-I-L-I-N-G, 2 syllables: ceil·ing. The wrong spelling people search most is celing: about 300 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 17 of all searches for the word. Ceiling is a noun meaning “The overhead closure of a room”. The plural of ceiling is ceilings.
How many letters and syllables are in ceiling?
| Letters | 7: C-E-I-L-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: ceil·ing |
| In writing | 15 times per million words; the 5,309th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, celing, about 300 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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 ceiling?
Ceiling is spelled C-E-I-L-I-N-G. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 17 of the searches for ceiling in either form.
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 ceiling?
Ceiling 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 ceiling?
- UK /ˈsiːlɪŋ/
- US /ˈsilɪŋ/
Ceiling has 2 syllables, split ceil·ing in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-ceiling.ogg, En-us-ceiling.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with ceiling
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: sealing (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 ceiling?
3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as ceiling from its last stressed vowel (/ilɪŋ/):
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 ceiling
- ceilings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ceiling mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The overhead closure of a room.
The dining room had an ornate ceiling.
- 2
The upper limit of an object or action.
- 3
The highest altitude at which an aircraft can safely maintain flight.
- 4
The measurement of visible distance from ground or sea level to an overcast cloud cover; under a clear sky, the ceiling measurement is identified as "unlimited."
Even though it was cloudy, there was still enough ceiling for the Blue Angels to perform a great show.
- 5
The smallest integer greater than or equal to a given number.
The ceiling of 4.5 is 5; the ceiling of −4.5 is −4.
- 6
The inner planking of a vessel.
- 7
The maximum permitted level in a financial transaction.
- 8
The overhead interior surface that covers the upper limits of a room.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of ceil
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate ceiling?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of ceiling: ceil.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ceiling in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | plafond , partie entière par excès |
| German | Decke, Plafond, Zimmerdecke , Grenze, Höchstgrenze |
| Portuguese | teto |
| Spanish | techo, cielorraso, cielo raso, plafón |
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 ceiling come from?
From Middle English celing (“paneling; (bed) cover or hanging”), from celen (“to cover or panel walls”) (from Old French celer (“to conceal”)) + -ing (gerund-forming suffix). By surface analysis, ceil + -ing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).