plum and plumb are homophones: they are pronounced identically and spelled differently, which is why they are so often swapped. plum means “any of several trees producing edible oval fruit having a smooth skin and a single hard stone”. plumb means “measure the depth of something”.
/ˈplʌm/
1.n.any of several trees producing edible oval fruit having a smooth skin and a single hard stone
2.n.any of numerous varieties of small to medium-sized round or oval fruit having a smooth skin and a single pit
3.n.a highly desirable position or assignment
“a political plum”
/ˈplʌm/
| plum | plumb | |
|---|---|---|
| Pronunciation | /ˈplʌm/ | /ˈplʌm/ |
| Said | pluhm | pluhm |
| Syllables | 1 | 1 |
| Letters | 4 | 5 |
| Parts of speech | noun, adverb | verb, adverb, noun, adjective |
| Senses | 5 | 9 |
| How common | Familiar | Familiar |
| Synonyms | plum tree | none recorded |
Full entry for plum · Full entry for plumb · More comparisons
1.v.measure the depth of something
2.v.weight with lead
3.v.examine thoroughly and in great depth