tongs
/tɔŋz/noun, verb
tongs is spelled T-O-N-G-S: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,998th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, tongs means “An instrument or tool used for picking things up without touching them with the hands or fingers, consisting of two slats or grips hinged at the end…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in tongs?
| Letters | 5: T-O-N-G-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 36,998th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 tongs?
Tongs appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,998th 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 tongs?
- UK /tɒŋz/
- US /tɔŋz/
- /tɑŋz/
Tongs 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-tongs.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with tongs?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as tongs (/ɔŋz/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: stong.
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).
What does tongs mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An instrument or tool used for picking things up without touching them with the hands or fingers, consisting of two slats or grips hinged at the end or in the middle, and sometimes including a spring to open the grips.
- 2
A large scissors-like two-piece center-hinged forged-iron implement with oval-loop handles and with pointed tips turned inward (in the same plane as and perpendicular to the handles) to facilitate lifting and carrying a block of ice. Often called ice tongs.
- 3
plural of tong (“instrument”)
- 4
plural of tong (“Chinese secret society”)
verb
- 1
third-person singular simple present indicative of tong
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Tongs in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense instrument:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | pinces |
| German | Greifer, Zange, Greifzange, Grillzange, Küchenzange, Nudelzange |
| Portuguese | tenaz, pinça, pegador |
| Spanish | pinzas, tenacillas, tenazuelas |
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 tongs come from?
From Middle English tonges, equivalent to tong (“tool for manipulating things in a fire”) + -s.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).