imam
/ˈiːmɑːm/noun
imam is spelled I-M-A-M: 4 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.2 times per million words in written English, the 14,928th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “imam vs iman” about 40 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, imam means “One who leads the salat prayers in a mosque” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of imam is imams.
How many letters and syllables are in imam?
| Letters | 4: I-M-A-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.2 times per million words; the 14,928th 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 and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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 imam?
Imam appears 3.2 times per million words in written English, the 14,928th 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 imam?
- /ˈiːmɑːm/
- /ɪˈmɑːm/
Imam has 2 syllables (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-imam.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-imam2.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with imam
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: iman.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with imam?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as imam.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: imma, mami, maim.
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 imam
- imams plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does imam mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
One who leads the salat prayers in a mosque.
- 2
A Shi'ite Muslim leader descended from the prophet Muhammad and functioning as his spiritual successor.
- 3
One of the Twelve imams, descendants of Muhammad from the seventh to ninth centuries CE who lived exemplary lives.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Imam in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Muslim leader:
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 imam come from?
Borrowed from Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām, “leader”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).