medal
[ˈmɛɾ.ɫ̩]noun, verb
medal is spelled M-E-D-A-L: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,683rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “medal vs metal” about 1,600 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, medal means “A stamped metal disc used as a personal ornament, a charm, or a religious object” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of medal is medals.
How many letters and syllables are in medal?
| Letters | 5: M-E-D-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 25 times per million words; the 3,683rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people 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); 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 medal?
Medal appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,683rd 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 medal?
- /ˈmɛdəl/
- UK [ˈmɛd.ɫ̩]
- US [ˈmɛɾ.ɫ̩]
Medal 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: En-uk-medal.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-Medal.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with medal
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: meddle (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 medal?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as medal.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: lamed.
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 medal
- medals plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- medaling US, participle, present
- medalling UK, participle, present
- medaled US, participle, past
- medalled UK, participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does medal mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A stamped metal disc used as a personal ornament, a charm, or a religious object.
Whether their images, shrines, relics, consecrated things, holy water, medals, benedictions, those divine amulets, holy exorcisms, and the sign of the cross, be available in this disease?
- 2
A stamped or cast metal object (usually a disc), particularly one awarded as a prize or reward.
- 3
obsoleteA Roman coin worth half a denarius.
verb
- 1
colloquialTo win a medal.
He medalled twice at the Olympics.
- 2
To award a medal to.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Medal in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense stamped metal disc:
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 medal come from?
From Middle English [Term?], from Middle French medaille, medale, from Italian medaglia (originally "half a denarius"), from Early Medieval Latin medālia, feminine derived via dissimilation (/dj–lj/ > /d–lj/) from mediālia, neuter plural of Late Latin mediālis (“middle”, adjective), from Classical Latin medius.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).