whom
/hum/pronoun
whom is spelled W-H-O-M: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 71 times per million words in written English, the 1,486th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a pronoun, whom means “As the object of a verb” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in whom?
| Letters | 4: W-H-O-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 71 times per million words; the 1,486th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
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 whom?
Whom appears 71 times per million words in written English, the 1,486th 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 whom?
- UK /huːm/
- British /hʉwm/
- US /hum/
Whom 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-Whom.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with whom
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with whom?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as whom from its last stressed vowel (/um/):
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 whom mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
pronoun
- 1
As the object of a verb.
Whom did you ask?
- 2
As the object of a preposition.
To whom are you referring?
- 3
Used to refer to a previously mentioned person or people.
That is the woman whom I spoke to earlier. (defining)
- 4
The person(s) whom; whomever.
To whom it may concern, all business of John Smith Ltd. has now been transferred to Floggitt & Runne.
- 5
informalAlso used with names of collective nouns that are groups of people, especially singularly-named musical groups or sports teams.
Whom was Lemmy bassist for? Motörhead!
pronoun
- 1
Honorific alternative letter-case form of whom, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Whom in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | que , qui |
| German | wen , wem , dem, der, den, die |
| Portuguese | o que, (for nonhumans) o quê, quem |
| Spanish | quién, quiénes , cuyo , quien |
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 whom come from?
From Middle English whom, wham, from Old English hwām, hwǣm, from Proto-Germanic *hwammai, dative case of *hwaz (“who, what”). Cognate with Scots wham (“whom”), German wem (“whom, to whom”), Danish hvem (“who, whom”), Swedish vem (“who, whom”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).