ill will
"ill-will" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ill will” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A spiteful or vengeful attitude; a grudge; dislike.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ill will |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ill will” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ill will is 8 letters long, classified as a noun. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A spiteful or vengeful attitude; a grudge; dislike.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for ill will, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English ill will, il wille, ill wille, equivalent to ill + will. The correct English form is ill will, spelled I-L-L- -W-I-L-L.
Definition
- 1A spiteful or vengeful attitude; a grudge; dislike.
Etymology
From Middle English ill will, il wille, ill wille, equivalent to ill + will.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “ill will”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-L-L- -W-I-L-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.