Ail or ale?
ail is a verb meaning “To cause to suffer; to trouble, afflict. (Now chiefly in interrogative or…”; ale is a noun meaning “A beer or beerlike drink produced by so-called warm fermentation and…”. Use ail as a verb and ale as a noun. They sound the same (/ˈeɪ̯l/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) ale is about 26 times as common as ail.
What is the difference between ail and ale?
| ail | ale | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun, adjective | noun |
| Meaning | To cause to suffer; to trouble, afflict. (Now chiefly in interrogative or indefinite constructions.) To be ill; to suffer; to be troubled The awn of barley or other types of corn | A beer or beerlike drink produced by so-called warm fermentation and unpressurized |
| Example | Have some chicken soup. It's good for what ails you | none recorded |
| Forms | ails, ailing, ailed | ales |
| Pronunciation | /ˈeɪ̯l/ [ˈeɪ̯l] | /eɪl/ |
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words | 4.8 times per million words |
Sources: ail and ale in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of ail and ale
ail
- 1
To cause to suffer; to trouble, afflict. (Now chiefly in interrogative or indefinite constructions.)
Have some chicken soup. It's good for what ails you
- 2
The awn of barley or other types of corn
- 3
To be ill; to suffer; to be troubled
ale
- 1
A beer or beerlike drink produced by so-called warm fermentation and unpressurized
- 2
Initialism of atomic layer etching
- 3
datedA beer or beerlike drink made without hops
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, ail or ale?
ail appears about once in every 5 million words; ale 4.8 times per million words.
ail about once in every 5 million wordsale 4.8 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).