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PlainSpell

gum

/ɡʌm/noun, verb

gum is spelled G-U-M: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 8.7 times per million words in written English, the 7,797th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, gum means “The flesh around the teeth” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of gum is gums.

How many letters and syllables are in gum?

Letters3: G-U-M
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing8.7 times per million words; the 7,797th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
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 gum?

Gum appears 8.7 times per million words in written English, the 7,797th 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 gum?

  • /ɡʌm/
  • /ɡum/
  • /ɡʊm/

As a noun (“A viscous water-soluble carbohydrate exudate of certain…”): /ɡʌm/, /ɡʌm/, /ɡum/.

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

Words people confuse with gum

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

Also written: gom.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with gum?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as gum.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: mug.

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 gum

  • gums plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • gom
  • gumming participle, present
  • gummed participle, past

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

What does gum mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    The flesh around the teeth.

  2. 2

    A viscous water-soluble carbohydrate exudate of certain plants that hardens when it becomes dry, or such a substance as a component of a plant exudate.

    gum arabic

  3. 3

    Any viscous or sticky substance resembling the true gum.

    gum benzoin

  4. 4

    Chewing gum.

  5. 5

    A single piece of chewing gum.

    Do you have a gum to spare?

  6. 6

    A gummi candy.

  7. 7

    USA hive made of a section of a hollow gum tree; hence, any roughly made hive.

  8. 8

    USA vessel or bin made from a hollow log.

  9. 9

    USA rubber overshoe.

verb

  1. 1

    To chew, especially of a toothless person or animal.

  2. 2

    To deepen and enlarge the spaces between the teeth of (a worn saw), as with a gummer.

  3. 3

    To apply an adhesive or gum to; to make sticky by applying a sticky substance to.

  4. 4

    To stiffen with glue or gum.

  5. 5

    To inelegantly attach into a sequence.

  6. 6

    colloquialTo impair the functioning of a thing or process.

    That cheap oil will gum up the engine valves.

noun

as GUM
  1. 1

    Initialism of genitourinary medicine.

  2. 2

    Initialism of GUM (department store).

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

Gum in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgencive (flesh around teeth), gomme (sticky substance exuded by certain plants), chewing-gum (single piece of chewing gum)
GermanZahnfleisch (flesh around teeth), Kautschuk (sticky substance exuded by certain plants), Kaugummi (single piece of chewing gum)
Portuguesegengiva (flesh around teeth), resina (sticky substance exuded by certain plants), chiclete, goma de mascar (single piece of chewing gum)
Spanishencía (flesh around teeth), goma (sticky substance exuded by certain plants), chicle (single piece of chewing gum)

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 gum come from?

From Middle English gom, gome, gomme, goome, gum, gume, gumme, from Old English gōma (“palate”), from Proto-West Germanic *gōmō, from Proto-Germanic *gaumô, *gōmô (“palate”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂- (“to gape, yawn”).

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

What to look up after gum