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PlainSpell

peel

/piːl/verb, noun

peel is spelled P-E-E-L: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 6.3 times per million words in written English, the 9,594th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “peal vs peel” about 3,600 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, peel means “To remove the skin or outer covering of” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in peel?

Letters4: P-E-E-L
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing6.3 times per million words; the 9,594th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like

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).

How common is peel?

Peel appears 6.3 times per million words in written English, the 9,594th 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 peel?

  • /piːl/
  • [pʰiːɫ]
  • [pʰiəɫ]

Peel 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-au-peel.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with peel

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

peal vs peel3,600 G

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

Also written: peal.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of peel

  • peels present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • peeling participle, present
  • peeled participle, past

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

What does peel mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To remove the skin or outer covering of.

    I sat by my sister's bed, peeling oranges for her.

  2. 2

    To remove something from the outer or top layer of.

    I peeled (the skin from) a banana and ate it hungrily.

  3. 3

    To become detached, come away, especially in flakes or strips; to shed skin in such a way.

    I had been out in the sun too long, and my nose was starting to peel.

  4. 4

    To remove one's clothing.

    The children peeled by the side of the lake and jumped in.

  5. 5

    To move, separate (off or away).

    The scrum-half peeled off and made for the touchlines.

  6. 6

    To play a peel shot.

  7. 7

    To send through a hoop (of a ball other than one's own).

  8. 8

    archaicTo plunder; to pillage, rob.

noun

  1. 1

    The skin or outer layer of a fruit, vegetable, etc.

  2. 2

    The action of peeling away from a formation.

  3. 3

    A cosmetic preparation designed to remove dead skin or to exfoliate.

  4. 4

    A shovel or similar instrument, now especially a pole with a flat disc at the end used for removing pizza or loaves of bread from a baker's oven.

    Near-synonym: pizza paddle

  5. 5

    A T-shaped implement used by printers and bookbinders for hanging wet sheets of paper on lines or poles to dry.

  6. 6

    USarchaicThe blade of an oar.

  7. 7

    ScotlandAn equal or match; a draw.

  8. 8

    A takeout which removes a stone from play as well as the delivered stone.

  9. 9

    obsoleteA stake.

  10. 10

    obsoleteA fence made of stakes; a stockade.

  11. 11

    archaicA small tower, fort, or castle; a keep.

  12. 12

    Alternative form of peal (“a small or young salmon”).

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

Peel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpeler, éplucher, décortiquer (to remove skin), pelure, épluchure (skin of a fruit), pelle à four (spadelike implement for removing loaves from an…)
Germanschälen (to remove skin), Schale (skin of a fruit), Brotschieber, Ofenschieber, Ofenschaufel, Backschießer (spadelike implement for removing loaves from an…)
Portuguesedescascar, pelar (to remove skin), casca (skin of a fruit), pá (spadelike implement for removing loaves from an…)
Spanishpelar (to remove skin), cáscara (skin of a fruit), pala panadero (spadelike implement for removing loaves from an…)

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 peel come from?

From Middle English pelen, from Old English pilian and Old French peler, pellier; both from Latin pilō, pilāre (“to remove hair from, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). Doublet of pill.

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

What to look up after peel