hill
[hɪɫ]noun, verb
hill is spelled H-I-L-L: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 66 times per million words in written English, the 1,602nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, hill means “An elevated landmass smaller than a mountain” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of hill is hills.
How many letters and syllables are in hill?
| Letters | 4: H-I-L-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 66 times per million words; the 1,602nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is hill?
Hill appears 66 times per million words in written English, the 1,602nd 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 hill?
- /hɪl/
- US [hɪɫ]
- [hɪo̯]
Hill 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-hill.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of hill
- hills plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- hilling participle, present
- hilled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hill mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An elevated landmass smaller than a mountain.
The park is sheltered from the wind by a hill to the east.
- 2
A sloping part of a landscape, especially one with a road, trail, etc.
You need to pick up speed to get up the hill that's coming up.
- 3
USA heap of earth surrounding a plant.
- 4
USA single cluster or group of plants growing close together, and having the earth heaped up about them.
a hill of corn or potatoes
- 5
The pitcher’s mound.
- 6
The raised portion of the surface of a vinyl record.
verb
- 1
To form into a heap or mound.
- 2
To heap or draw earth around plants.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Hill in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | colline , côte |
| German | Hügel , Hang, Steigung , Anstieg , häufeln |
| Portuguese | colina, morro |
| Spanish | cerro, loma, colina, collado, alcor, otero |
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 hill come from?
From Middle English hil (“hill”), from Old English hyll (“hill”), from Proto-West Germanic *hulli (“hill”), from Proto-Germanic *hulliz (“hill”), from Proto-Indo-European *kl̥Hnís (“top, hill, rock”) (compare also Proto-Germanic *halluz (“stone, rock”)).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).