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PlainSpell

reef

/ɹiːf/noun, verb, adjective

reef is spelled R-E-E-F: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 6.8 times per million words in written English, the 9,165th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, reef means “A chain or range of rocks, sand, or coral lying at or near the surface of the water” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of reef is reefs.

How many letters and syllables are in reef?

Letters4: R-E-E-F
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing6.8 times per million words; the 9,165th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is reef?

Reef appears 6.8 times per million words in written English, the 9,165th 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 reef?

  • /ɹiːf/

Reef 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-us-reef.ogg, En-au-reef.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with reef?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as reef.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: free, fere, feer.

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 reef

  • reefs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • riff
  • reefing participle, present
  • reefed participle, past
  • reefer comparative
  • more reef comparative
  • reefest superlative
  • most reef superlative
  • reif
  • rief

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

What does reef mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A chain or range of rocks, sand, or coral lying at or near the surface of the water.

  2. 2

    AustraliaA large vein of auriferous quartz; hence, any body of rock yielding valuable ore.

  3. 3

    A portion of a sail rolled and tied down to lessen the area exposed in a high wind.

  4. 4

    A reef knot.

  5. 5

    The itch; any eruptive skin disorder.

  6. 6

    Dandruff.

verb

  1. 1

    To take in part of a sail in order to adapt the size of the sail to the force of the wind.

  2. 2

    AustraliaTo pull or yank strongly, especially in relation to horse riding.

  3. 3

    To move the floats of a paddle wheel toward its center so that they will not dip so deeply.

    Reef the paddles.

  4. 4

    slangTo manipulate the lining of a person's pocket in order to steal the contents unnoticed.

    This was done by "reefing." He put two fingers just inside the opening and lifted the lining a trifle. Although I watched his hands, I could feel nothing, so gently did his fingers work. Reefing a couple of times, he lifted my handkerchief,

adjective

  1. 1

    Scabby; scurvy.

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

Reef in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchécueil, récif (rocks at or near surface of the water), filon (large vein of auriferous quartz), ris (arrangement to reduce the area of a sail), prendre un ris, arriser (sailing)
GermanRiff, Felsenriff (rocks at or near surface of the water), reffen (sailing)
Portugueserecife, arrecife, restinga (rocks at or near surface of the water), filão (large vein of auriferous quartz)
Spanisharrecife (rocks at or near surface of the water), filón (large vein of auriferous quartz), tomar rizos (sailing)

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 reef come from?

From earlier riff, from Middle English rif, from Old Norse rif (“rib, reef”), from Proto-Germanic *ribją (“rib, reef”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rebʰ- (“arch, ceiling, cover”). Dutch rif (“reef”), Low German riff, reff (“reef”), German Riff (“reef, ledge”) are also borrowed from Old Norse. Doublet of rib.

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

What to look up after reef