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PlainSpell

file

/faɪl/noun, verb

file is spelled F-I-L-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 56 times per million words in written English, the 1,822nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, file means “A collection of papers collated and archived together” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of file is files.

How many letters and syllables are in file?

Letters4: F-I-L-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing56 times per million words; the 1,822nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
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 file?

File appears 56 times per million words in written English, the 1,822nd 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 file?

  • US /faɪl/
  • US [faɪ̯(ə)ɫ]

File 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-file.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with file

Also written: file cabinet.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with file?

11 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as file from its last stressed vowel (/aɪl/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: life, elif, lief.

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 file

  • files plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • filing participle, present
  • filed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does file mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A collection of papers collated and archived together.

  2. 2

    A roll or list.

  3. 3

    A course of thought; a thread of narration.

  4. 4

    An aggregation of data on a storage device, identified by a name.

    He had created a file for coding to design a new product.

  5. 5

    A row of modular kitchen units and a countertop, consisting of cabinets and appliances below (dishwasher) and next to (stove/cooker) a countertop.

    Many homes now have double-file kitchens.

  6. 6

    CanadaUSClipping of file cabinet.

  7. 7

    A column of people one behind another, whether "single file" or in a grid pattern.

    The troops marched in Indian file.

  8. 8

    A small detachment of soldiers.

  9. 9

    One of the eight vertical lines of squares on a chessboard (i.e., those identified by a letter).

  10. 10

    A tool consisting of a strip or rod of hardened and coarse metal, used for removing sharp edges, shaping, and cutting, especially through metal; usually a hand tool.

  11. 11

    archaicslangA cunning or resourceful person.

  12. 12

    obsoleteslangA pickpocket.

verb

  1. 1

    To commit (official papers) to some office.

    She filed their accounts yesterday.

  2. 2

    To submit a formal request to some office.

    She filed for divorce the next day.

  3. 3

    (of a journalist) To submit (an article) to a newspaper or similar publication.

    I filed my copy soon after the interview.

  4. 4

    To place in an archive in a logical place and order.

    Troves of documents filed away in the depository.

  5. 5

    To store a file (aggregation of data) on a storage medium such as a disc or another computer.

  6. 6

    obsoleteTo set in order; to arrange, or lay away.

  7. 7

    To move in a file.

    The applicants kept filing into the room until it was full.

  8. 8

    To smooth, grind, or cut with a file.

    I'd better file the bottoms of the table legs. Otherwise they will scratch the flooring.

  9. 9

    archaicTo defile.

  10. 10

    To corrupt.

noun

as filé
  1. 1

    A spicy herb made from the dried and ground leaves of the North American sassafras tree (Sassafras albidum) and used in Louisiana Creole cooking.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

File in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfichier, dossier (collection of papers), file (column of people), colonne (chess: vertical line of squares), lime (cutting or smoothing tool), limer (smooth with a file)
GermanAkte, Datei, Hefter, Ordner, Kartei, Dossier (collection of papers)
Portuguesearquivo, ficheiro (collection of papers), arquivar (transitive: to commit papers), registrar (to make a formal request), salvar, guardar (to store computer data)
Spanishcartapacio (collection of papers), gestionar, tramitar, deparar (transitive: to commit papers), archivo, fichero (computing: aggregation of data)

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 file come from?

From Old French fil (“thread”), from Latin fīlum (“thread”). Doublet of filum.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after file