instil
/ɪnˈstɪl/
"instil" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“instil” is uncommon English (frequency #60,882 among 2,140 “I” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #60,882
- frequency rank, English
- 2,140
- “I” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Australia, Ireland, and UK standard spelling of instill.
Corpus desk
Index EN-instil · instil · English
instil · rank #60,882 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #60,882
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,140
- PHOTO-FINISH inoperative
Nearest frequency peer: inoperative (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “instil”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- infantryman
infantryman
39,122 corpus weight
- ingot
ingot
39,121 corpus weight
- inoperative
inoperative
39,120 corpus weight
- instil
instil
39,119 corpus weight
- interconnec…
interconnecting
39,118 corpus weight
- intrauterine
intrauterine
39,116 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “instil” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | instil |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ɪnˈstɪl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #60,882 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “instil” in English
Rare enough to double-check
instil is uncommon English at frequency #60,882 among 2,140 “I” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ɪnˈstɪl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Australia, Ireland, and UK standard spelling of instill.".
instil doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is instil, spelled I-N-S-T-I-L.
Definition
- 1Australia, Ireland, and UK standard spelling of instill.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how instil appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
her only real object in this call had been to instil a general uneasiness into Diva’s mind about the coal strike
"If we do not instil public confidence in the system, I fear the public will lose confidence and even fewer people will travel by rail."
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "instil", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).