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PlainSpell

fill

/fɪl/verb, noun

fill is spelled F-I-L-L: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 44 times per million words in written English, the 2,290th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, fill means “To add contents to (a container, cavity, or the like) so that it is full” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in fill?

Letters4: F-I-L-L
Syllables1
In writing44 times per million words; the 2,290th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is fill?

Fill appears 44 times per million words in written English, the 2,290th 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 fill?

  • /fɪl/
  • [ˈfɪɫ]
  • /fɪʊ̯/

Fill has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-fill.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of fill

  • fills present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • filling participle, present
  • filled participle, past

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

What does fill mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To add contents to (a container, cavity, or the like) so that it is full.

    She filled a glass with milk.

  2. 2

    To enter (something), making it full.

    The doors opened and guests filled the auditorium.

  3. 3

    To occupy fully, to take up all of.

    The smell of spring filled the air.

  4. 4

    To become full.

    The bucket filled with rain

  5. 5

    To become pervaded with something.

    My heart filled with joy.

  6. 6

    To satisfy or meet (as, an order, request, or requirement).

    The pharmacist filled my prescription for penicillin.

  7. 7

    To install someone, or be installed, in (a position or office), eliminating a vacancy.

    The board of supervisors called a specal election to fill the office, and at such special election Henry C. Andrews was elected judge of probate to fill out the said term.

  8. 8

    To treat (a tooth) by adding a dental filling to it.

    Dr. Smith filled Jim's cavity with silver amalgam.

noun

  1. 1

    A sufficient or more than sufficient amount.

    Don't feed him any more: he's had his fill.

  2. 2

    An amount that fills a container.

    The mixer returned to the plant for another fill.

  3. 3

    The filling of a container or area.

    That machine can do 20 fills per minute.

  4. 4

    Inexpensive material used to occupy empty spaces, especially in construction.

    The ruins of earlier buildings were used as fill for more recent construction.

  5. 5

    Soil and/or human-created debris discovered within a cavity or cut in the layers and exposed by excavation; fill soil.

  6. 6

    An embankment, as in railroad construction, to fill a hollow or ravine; also, the place which is to be filled.

  7. 7

    A short passage, riff, or rhythmic sound that helps to keep the listener's attention during a break between the phrases of a melody.

    bass fill

  8. 8

    Ellipsis of fill light.

  9. 9

    One of the thills or shafts of a carriage.

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

How do you abbreviate fill?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of fill: FOK.

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

Fill in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchremplir (add contents to, so it is full), se remplir (become full of contents), combler (install someone or be installed in)
Germanfüllen (add contents to, so it is full), sich füllen (become full of contents), besetzen (install someone or be installed in), ausfüllen (occupy fully, take up all of), Füllung (amount that fills a container), Füllmaterial (something used to occupy empty spaces)
Portugueseencher (add contents to, so it is full), restaurar (treat (a tooth))
Spanishllenar, implar, amacizar, macizar (add contents to, so it is full), relleno (something used to occupy empty spaces), repostaje (filling of a container)

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 fill come from?

From Middle English fillen, fullen, from Old English fyllan (“to fill, fill up, replenish, satisfy; complete, fulfill”), from Proto-West Germanic *fullijan, from Proto-Germanic *fullijaną (“to make full, fill”), from *fullaz (“full”), from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós (“full”).

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

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