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PlainSpell

teem

/tiːm/verb, noun

teem is spelled T-E-E-M: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 87,317th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “team vs teem” about 30 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, teem means “To be stocked to overflowing” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in teem?

Letters4: T-E-E-M
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 9 million words; the 87,317th 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 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 teem?

Teem appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 87,317th 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 teem?

  • /tiːm/

Teem 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-uk-teem.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with teem

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

team vs teem30 G

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

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

What rhymes with teem?

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

Spelled with the same letters in another order: meet, mete, teme.

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 teem

  • teems present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • teeming participle, present
  • teemed participle, past

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

What does teem mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To be stocked to overflowing.

  2. 2

    To be prolific; to abound; to be rife.

    Fish teem in this pond.

  3. 3

    To fall prolifically.

  4. 4

    obsoleteTo bring forth young, as an animal; to produce fruit, as a plant; to bear; to be pregnant; to conceive; to multiply.

  5. 5

    archaicTo empty.

  6. 6

    To pour (especially with rain)

  7. 7

    To pour, as steel, from a melting pot; to fill, as a mould, with molten metal.

  8. 8

    IrelandScotlandTo drain the water from (boiled potatoes etc.).

  9. 9

    obsoleterareTo think fit.

noun

  1. 1

    A downpour (of rain).

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

Teem in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgrouiller, foisonner (overflowing with)
Germanvon etwas wimmeln, vor etwas strotzen, überquellen, überborden (overflowing with), entleeren, ausgießen (to empty)
Portuguesefervilhar (overflowing with)
Spanishrebosar de, hervir de, bullir (overflowing with), proliferar (to be prolific; to abound), fructificar (to bring forth young or to produce fruit)

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 teem come from?

From Middle English temen (“to bear, to support”), from Anglian Old English tēman (“to give birth”) (West Saxon Old English tīeman), from Proto-West Germanic *taumijan (“to bridle”), from Proto-Germanic *taumijaną, from *taumaz ("bridle", continued in Modern English as team).

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

What to look up after teem