seem
/ˈsiːm/verb
seem is spelled S-E-E-M: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 120 times per million words in written English, the 873rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “seam vs seem” about 1,600 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, seem means “To appear; to look outwardly; to be perceived as” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in seem?
| Letters | 4: S-E-E-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 120 times per million words; the 873rd 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; 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 seem?
Seem appears 120 times per million words in written English, the 873rd 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 seem?
- /ˈsiːm/
- [ˈsɪi̯m]
- British /ˈsɪjm/
Seem 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, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with seem
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: seam, 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 seem?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as seem.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: seme, mese.
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 seem
- seems present, singular, he/she/it
- seeming participle, present
- seemed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does seem mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To appear; to look outwardly; to be perceived as.
She is seeming a bit down these days. Her eyes seem blue. It must have seemed to her she was safe. How'd she seem to you? He seems not to be at home. "It seems like rain". "It seems to me (to be) rather sleety."; "There seem to be a few pro
- 2
obsoleteTo befit; to beseem.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Seem in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to appear:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | sembler, paraître, avoir l'air |
| German | scheinen, dünken, vorkommen |
| Portuguese | parecer |
| Spanish | parecer |
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 seem come from?
From Middle English semen (“to seem, befit, be becoming”), from Old Norse sœma (“to conform to, beseem, befit”), from Proto-Germanic *sōmijaną (“to unite, fit”), from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one; whole”). Cognate with Scots seme (“to be fitting; beseem”), Danish sømme (“to beseem”), Old Swedish søma, Faroese søma (“to be proper”). Related also to Old Norse sómi (“honour”) ( > archaic Danish somme (“decent comportment”)), Old Norse sœmr (“fitting, seemly”), Old English sēman (“to reconcile, bring an agreement”), Old English sōm (“agreement”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).