om
/oʊm/noun, verb
om is spelled O-M: 2 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.5 times per million words in written English, the 13,897th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, om means “A sacred, mystical syllable used in prayer and meditation” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of om is oms.
How many letters and syllables are in om?
| Letters | 2: O-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.5 times per million words; the 13,897th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
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 om?
Om appears 3.5 times per million words in written English, the 13,897th 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 om?
- UK /ɒm/
- UK /əʊm/
- US /oʊm/
Om 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-om.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with om
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: aum.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with om?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as om 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 om
- oms plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- aum
- omming participle, present
- ommed participle, past
- omo-
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does om mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A sacred, mystical syllable used in prayer and meditation.
verb
- 1
To chant the sacred syllable om.
noun
- 1
Initialism of outer marker.
- 2
Initialism of otitis media.
- 3
Initialism of old measurement.
- 4
Initialism of old man (term of address for a male).
- 5
Initialism of operations manager.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does om come from?
Learned borrowing from Sanskrit ओम् (om) (symbol ॐ (oṃ)). The former (om) is used in both Buddhist and Hindu settings, while the latter (aum) is usually used only in Jain and Hindu settings.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).