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PlainSpell

inlet

/ˈɪnlət/noun, verb

inlet is spelled I-N-L-E-T: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,005th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, inlet means “A body of water let into a coast, such as a bay, cove, fjord or estuary” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of inlet is inlets.

How many letters and syllables are in inlet?

Letters5: I-N-L-E-T
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.8 times per million words; the 16,005th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
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 inlet?

Inlet appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,005th 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 inlet?

  • /ˈɪnlət/

As a verb (“To let in; admit”): /ɪnˈlɛt/.

Inlet has 2 syllables (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-inlet.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with inlet?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as inlet.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: intel, elint.

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 inlet

  • inlets plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • inletting participle, present

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

What does inlet mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A body of water let into a coast, such as a bay, cove, fjord or estuary.

    We hit a bad chop at the inlet.

  2. 2

    A passage that leads into a cavity.

verb

  1. 1

    To let in; admit.

  2. 2

    To insert; inlay.

  3. 3

    To carve the wooden stock of a firearm so as to position the metal components in it.

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

Inlet in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcrique, bras de rivière (body of water let into a coast), arrivée, admission, prise (a passage into something)
GermanSeegatt, Meeresarm (body of water let into a coast), Einfahrt, Zugang (a passage into something)
Portugueseenseada (body of water let into a coast), entrada (a passage into something)
Spanishensenada (body of water let into a coast), entrada, acceso (a passage into something)

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 inlet come from?

From Middle English inlāte (“inlet, entrance”), from inleten (“to let in”), equivalent to in- + let. Compare Low German inlat (“inlet”), German Einlass (“inlet, entrance”).

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

What to look up after inlet