aisle
/aɪ̯l/noun
aisle is spelled A-I-S-L-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 5.2 times per million words in written English, the 10,843rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “aisle vs isle” about 4,400 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, aisle means “A wing of a building, notably in a church separated from the nave proper by piers” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of aisle is aisles.
How many letters and syllables are in aisle?
| Letters | 5: A-I-S-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.2 times per million words; the 10,843rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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 aisle?
Aisle appears 5.2 times per million words in written English, the 10,843rd 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 aisle?
- US /aɪ̯l/
Aisle 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-aisle.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with aisle
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: I'll, isle (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with aisle?
11 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as aisle from its last stressed vowel (/aɪl/):
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).
Forms of aisle
- aisles plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does aisle mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A wing of a building, notably in a church separated from the nave proper by piers.
- 2
A clear path/passage through rows of seating.
- 3
A clear corridor in a supermarket with shelves on both sides containing goods for sale.
- 4
Any path through an otherwise obstructed space.
- 5
Seat in public transport, such as a plane, train or bus, that's beside the aisle.
Do you want to seat window or aisle?
- 6
USAn idiomatic divide between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, who are said to be on two sides of the aisle.
- 7
The path of a wedding procession in a church or other venue; (by extension, metonymic) marriage.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Aisle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Seitenschiff , Gang , Durchgang |
| Portuguese | nave , corredor , passagem |
| Spanish | nave , pasillo , paso |
| French | allée , rayon , couloir, côté couloir |
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 aisle come from?
From Middle English ele, from Anglo-Norman ele (“wing”) (Modern French aile), from Latin āla (whence English ala). Further from Latin axis (whence English axis, atelier). Via Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱs- cognate with English axle, Ancient Greek ἄξων (áxōn) (whence English axo-, axon). The modern pronunciation has been influenced by English isle, whence the obsolete form isle; the modern spelling reflects further modification of this form after modern French aile.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).