Skip to main content
PlainSpell

comb

/koʊm/noun, verb

comb is spelled C-O-M-B: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.3 times per million words in written English, the 14,509th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, comb means “A toothed implement for grooming the hair or (formerly) for keeping it in place” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of comb is combs.

How many letters and syllables are in comb?

Letters4: C-O-M-B
Syllables1
In writing3.3 times per million words; the 14,509th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is comb?

Comb appears 3.3 times per million words in written English, the 14,509th 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 comb?

  • UK /kəʊm/
  • US /koʊm/
  • Australia /kəʉm/

As a noun (“Abbreviation of combination”): /kɒmb/.

As a noun (“Alternative form of combe”): /kuːm/.

Comb has one syllable.

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

Words people confuse with comb

Also written: combe.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with comb?

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

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 comb

  • combs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • combing participle, present
  • combed participle, past

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

What does comb mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A toothed implement for grooming the hair or (formerly) for keeping it in place.

  2. 2

    A machine used in separating choice cotton fibers from worsted cloth fibers.

  3. 3

    The toothed plate at the top and bottom of an escalator that prevents objects getting trapped between the moving stairs and fixed landings.

  4. 4

    A toothed tool used for chasing screws on work in a lathe; a chaser.

  5. 5

    The notched scale of a wire micrometer.

  6. 6

    The collector of an electrical machine, usually resembling a comb.

  7. 7

    A toothed plate used for creating wells in agar gels for electrophoresis.

  8. 8

    A toothed wooden pick used to push the weft thread tightly against the previous pass of thread to create a tight weave.

  9. 9

    rareAbbreviation of combination.

  10. 10

    Alternative form of combe.

  11. 11

    Alternative form of coomb.

verb

  1. 1

    Especially of hair or fur, to groom with a toothed implement, especially a comb.

  2. 2

    To separate choice cotton fibers from worsted cloth fibers.

  3. 3

    To search thoroughly as if raking over an area with a comb.

    Police combed the field for evidence after the assault.

  4. 4

    To roll over, as the top or crest of a wave; to break with a white foam, as waves.

  5. 5

    To turn a vessel parallel to (the track of) (a torpedo) so as to reduce one's size as a target.

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

Comb in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpeigne (toothed implement for grooming the hair), crête (fleshy growth on the top of the head of some…), peigner, coiffer (to groom the hair with a toothed implement), passer au peigne fin, ratisser (to search thoroughly as if raking over an area…)
GermanKamm (toothed implement for grooming the hair), kämmen (to groom the hair with a toothed implement), durchkämmen (to search thoroughly as if raking over an area…)
Portuguesepente (toothed implement for grooming the hair), crista (fleshy growth on the top of the head of some…), pentear (to groom the hair with a toothed implement), passar um pente-fino (to search thoroughly as if raking over an area…)
Spanishpeine, peineta (toothed implement for grooming the hair), cresta (fleshy growth on the top of the head of some…), peinar, peinarse (to groom the hair with a toothed implement)

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 comb come from?

From Middle English comb, from Old English camb (“comb”), from Proto-West Germanic *kamb, from Proto-Germanic *kambaz (“comb”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵómbʰos (“tooth”), a doublet of cam. The verb is derived from the noun and displaced the older verb kemb.

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

What to look up after comb