# fill

> English word · Verb · IPA /fɪl/ · frequency rank #2,297

## Definitions
1. To make full
2. To make full
3. To make full
4. To become full.
5. To become full.
6. To satisfy or obey (an order, request, or requirement).
7. To install someone, or be installed, in (a position or office), eliminating a vacancy.
8. To treat (a tooth) by adding a dental filling to it.
9. To block, obstruct
10. To supply fully with food; to feed; to satisfy.
11. To trim (a yard) so that the wind blows on the after side of the sails.
12. To have sexual intercourse with (a female).
13. To ejaculate inside someone or something.

## Etymology
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”).
Cognate with Scots fill (“to fill”), West Frisian folje (“to fill”), Low German füllen (“to fill”), Dutch vullen (“to fill”), German füllen (“to fill”), Danish fylde (“to fill”), Swedish fylla (“to fill”), Norwegian fylle (“to fill”), Icelandic fylla (“to fill”) and Latin plenus (“full”)

## Easily confused with
- **FL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-fl)
- **fit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-fit)
- **fix** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-fix)
- **fly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-fly)
- **flu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-flu)
- **fin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-fin)
- **FLA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-fla)
- **fir** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-fir)
- **Flo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-flo)
- **FIS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-fis)
- **FTL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-ftl)
- **find** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-find)
- **full** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-full)
- **five** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-five)
- **fire** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-fire)
- **fine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-fine)
- **film** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-film)
- **fish** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-fish)
- **firm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-firm)
- **fuel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fill-vs-fuel)

## Common misspellings (3)
`ffill`, `flil`, `ifll`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/fill