peal
/piːl/noun, verb
peal is spelled P-E-A-L: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 58,714th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “peal vs peel” about 3,600 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, peal means “A loud sound, or a succession of loud sounds, as of bells, thunder, cannon, shouts, laughter, of a multitude, etc” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of peal is peals.
How many letters and syllables are in peal?
| Letters | 4: P-E-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 58,714th 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 peal?
Peal appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 58,714th 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 peal?
- /piːl/
Peal 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-peal.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with peal
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: peel (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: peel.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with peal?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as peal.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: pale, plea, leap.
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 peal
- peals plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- pealing participle, present
- pealed participle, past
- peel
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does peal mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A loud sound, or a succession of loud sounds, as of bells, thunder, cannon, shouts, laughter, of a multitude, etc.
- 2
A set of bells tuned to each other according to the diatonic scale.
- 3
The changes rung on a set of bells; in the strict sense a full peal of at least 5040 changes.
- 4
A small salmon; a grilse; a sewin.
verb
- 1
To sound with a peal or peals.
- 2
To utter or sound loudly.
- 3
To assail with noise.
- 4
To resound; to echo.
- 5
obsoleteTo appeal.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Peal in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | éclat |
| German | Dröhnen |
| Spanish | estruendo , campanada, campaneo, tañido, repique, repiqueteo |
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 peal come from?
From Middle English pele, peil, probably an apheretic variant of Middle English apel, appel, from Old French apel (“an appeal; pealing of bells”). Compare appeal.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).