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PlainSpell

cram

UK /kɹæm/verb, noun

cram is spelled C-R-A-M: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 24,170th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, cram means “To press, force, or drive, particularly in filling, or in thrusting one thing into another; to stuff; to fill to superfluity” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in cram?

Letters4: C-R-A-M
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.4 times per million words; the 24,170th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

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

How common is cram?

Cram appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 24,170th 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 cram?

  • UK /kɹæm/
  • British /kɹam/
  • /kɾam/

Cram 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-cram.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with cram?

10 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as cram from its last stressed vowel (/æm/, British pronunciation):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: marc.

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 cram

  • crams present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • cramming participle, present
  • crammed participle, past

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

What does cram mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To press, force, or drive, particularly in filling, or in thrusting one thing into another; to stuff; to fill to superfluity.

    to cram fruit into a basket; to cram a room with people

  2. 2

    To fill with food to satiety; to stuff.

    The boy crammed himself with cake

  3. 3

    To put hastily through an extensive course of memorizing or study, as in preparation for an examination.

    A pupil is crammed by his tutor.

  4. 4

    To study hard; to swot.

  5. 5

    To eat greedily, and to satiety; to stuff oneself.

  6. 6

    BritishdatedslangTo lie; to intentionally not tell the truth.

  7. 7

    BritishdatedslangTo make (a person) believe false or exaggerated tales.

noun

  1. 1

    The act of cramming (forcing or stuffing something).

  2. 2

    datedslangInformation hastily memorized.

    a cram from an examination

  3. 3

    A warp having more than two threads passing through each dent or split of the reed.

  4. 4

    BritishdatedslangA lie; a falsehood.

  5. 5

    A mathematical board game in which players take turns placing dominoes horizontally or vertically until no more can be placed, the loser being the player who cannot continue.

  6. 6

    A small friendship book with limited space for people to enter their information.

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

Cram in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbourrer, ficher, foutre, emmancher, fourrer (to press, force, or drive, particularly in…), gaver (to fill with food to satiety; to stuff)
Germanstopfen, vollpacken (to press, force, or drive, particularly in…), mästen, vollstopfen (to fill with food to satiety; to stuff), büffeln, pauken (to put hastily through an extensive course of…)
Portugueseentupir (to press, force, or drive, particularly in…), empanturrar (to fill with food to satiety; to stuff), entupir-se (to eat greedily, and to satiety; to stuff), entupimento (the act of cramming), decoreba (information hastily memorized; as, a cram from…)
Spanishatestar, atiborrar, embutir, atacuñarse, atocuñar (to press, force, or drive, particularly in…)

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 cram come from?

From Middle English crammen, from Old English crammian (“to cram; stuff”), from Proto-West Germanic *krammōn, from Proto-Germanic *krammōną, a secondary verb derived from *krimmaną (“to stuff”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to assemble; collect; gather”). Compare Old English crimman (“to cram; stuff; insert; press; bruise”), Icelandic kremja (“to squeeze; crush; bruise”).

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

What to look up after cram