# tomb

> English word · Noun · IPA /tuːm/ · frequency rank #8,495

## Definitions
1. A small building, or a room within one, for the remains of the dead, with walls, a roof, and (if it is to be used for more than one corpse) a door. It may be partly or wholly in the ground (except for its entrance) in a cemetery, or it may be inside a church proper or in its crypt. Single tombs may be permanently sealed; those for families (or other groups) have doors for access whenever needed.
2. A pit in which the dead body of a human being is deposited.
3. One who keeps secrets.
4. Death (literary)

## Etymology
From Middle English tombe, toumbe, borrowed from Old French tombe, from Latin tumba from Ancient Greek τύμβος (túmbos, “a sepulchral mound, tomb, grave”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- (“to swell”).
The verb is from Middle English tomben.

## Easily confused with
- **too** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-too)
- **top** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-top)
- **toy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-toy)
- **ton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-ton)
- **tub** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-tub)
- **tow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-tow)
- **tor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-tor)
- **TOS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-tos)
- **tot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-tot)
- **tum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-tum)
- **TSM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-tsm)
- **TOV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-tov)
- **took** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-took)
- **town** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-town)
- **tour** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-tour)
- **Tony** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-tony)
- **tool** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-tool)
- **tone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-tone)
- **tons** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-tons)
- **toys** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tomb-vs-toys)

## Common misspellings (6)
`otmb`, `tmob`, `tobm`, `tombb`, `tommb`, `ttomb`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/tomb