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PlainSpell

seam

/ˈsiːm/noun, verb

seam is spelled S-E-A-M: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,228th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “seam vs seem” about 1,600 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, seam means “A folded-back and stitched piece of fabric; especially, the stitching that joins two or more pieces of fabric” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of seam is seams.

How many letters and syllables are in seam?

Letters4: S-E-A-M
Syllables1
In writing2.8 times per million words; the 16,228th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 seam?

Seam appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,228th 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 seam?

  • /ˈsiːm/
  • [ˈsɪi̯m]

Seam has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-seem.ogg, En-au-seam.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with seam

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

seam vs seem1,600 G

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

Also written: seme.

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

What rhymes with seam?

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

Spelled with the same letters in another order: same, mesa, sema, mase.

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 seam

  • seams plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • seaming participle, present
  • seamed participle, past
  • saim

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

What does seam mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A folded-back and stitched piece of fabric; especially, the stitching that joins two or more pieces of fabric.

  2. 2

    A suture.

  3. 3

    A thin stratum, especially of an economically viable material such as coal or mineral.

  4. 4

    The stitched equatorial seam of a cricket ball; the sideways movement of a ball when it bounces on the seam.

  5. 5

    A joint formed by mating two separate sections of materials.

    Seams can be made or sealed in a variety of ways, including adhesive bonding, hot-air welding, solvent welding, using adhesive tapes, sealant, etc.

  6. 6

    A line or depression left by a cut or wound; a scar; a cicatrix.

  7. 7

    A line of junction; a joint.

  8. 8

    An old English measure of grain, containing eight bushels.

  9. 9

    An old English measure of glass, containing twenty-four weys of five pounds, or 120 pounds.

  10. 10

    UKobsoleteGrease; tallow; lard.

verb

  1. 1

    To put together with a seam.

    Thus, seamed with many scars, / Bursting these prison bars, / Up to its native stars / My soul ascended!

  2. 2

    To make the appearance of a seam in, as in knitting a stocking; hence, to knit with a certain stitch, like that in such knitting.

  3. 3

    To mark with a seam or line; to scar.

  4. 4

    To crack open along a seam.

  5. 5

    Of the ball, to move sideways after bouncing on the seam.

  6. 6

    Of a bowler, to make the ball move thus.

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

Seam in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcouture (folded back and stitched piece of fabric), suture (suture), veine (thin stratum of mineral), jointure (a joint formed by mating two separate sections…), cicatrice (a line or depression left by a cut or wound)
GermanSaum, Naht (folded back and stitched piece of fabric), Flöz, Schicht (thin stratum of mineral), Narbe (a line or depression left by a cut or wound)
Portuguesecostura (folded back and stitched piece of fabric), sutura (suture), filão, veio (thin stratum of mineral), junta (a joint formed by mating two separate sections…), cicatriz (a line or depression left by a cut or wound)
Spanishcostura, cosedura (folded back and stitched piece of fabric), veta (thin stratum of mineral), costurón (a line or depression left by a cut or wound)

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 seam come from?

From Middle English seem, seme, from Old English sēam (“seam”), from Proto-West Germanic *saum, from Proto-Germanic *saumaz (“that which is sewn”).

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

What to look up after seam