kill

Name: kill, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

/kɪl/

//kɪl// verb

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed September 3, 2026

The verdict

“kill” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #852) as a verb. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#852
frequency rank, English: 1,236
“K” headwords: 4
tracked misspellings: 20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To put to death; to extinguish the life of.

Corpus desk

Index EN-kill · kill · English

kill · rank #852 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

FREQ-CORE #852
LEN-MID 4 letters
VOW-1 1 vowel
CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
VAR-LOW 4 variants
BOOK-MID 1,236
PHOTO-FINISH January

Nearest frequency peer: January (-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.

entire

99,152
French

99,151
January

99,150
kill

99,149
met

99,148
perhaps

99,147

What this shows Bars place “kill” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

kill vs KL

0% similar

kill vs Kim

25% similar

kill vs kit

50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for kill
Property	Value
Headword	kill
Language	English
Part of speech	Verb
IPA	/kɪl/
Letters	4
Frequency rank	#852
Misspellings tracked	4
Confusable pairs	20
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “kill”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).killlands here:

#852

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “January” (#851), “met” (#853), “French” (#850). Among 1,236 “K” headwords, “kill” is #852. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for kill is neighbouring look-alikes ("KL", "Kim", …), not just typos; it is averb pronounced /kɪl/. Frequency #852 among 1,236 “K” headwords. 18 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for kill, with forms such as "ikll", "kil", and "kkill". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "KL", "Kim", "kit", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English killen, kyllen, cüllen (“to strike, beat, cut”), of obscure origin. Cognate with Scots kele, keil (“to kill”). * Perhaps from unattested Old English *cyllan, from Proto-West Germanic *kwulljan, from Proto-Germanic *kwuljaną, from Proto-I… The correct English form is kill, spelled K-I-L-L.

Definition

1
To put to death; to extinguish the life of.
2
To render inoperative.
3
To stop, cease, or render void; to terminate.
4
To amaze, exceed, stun, or otherwise incapacitate.
5
To cause great pain, discomfort, or distress to; to hurt.
6
To produce feelings of dissatisfaction or revulsion in.
7
To use up or to waste.
8
To overpower, overwhelm, or defeat.
9
To force a company out of business.
10
To punish severely.
11
To strike (a ball, etc.) with such force and placement as to make a shot that is impossible to defend against, usually winning a point.
12
To cause (a ball, etc.) to be out of play, resulting in a stoppage of gameplay.
13
To succeed with an audience, especially in comedy.
14
To cause to assume the value zero.
15
To disconnect (a user) involuntarily from the network.
16
To deadmelt.
17
To sexually penetrate in a skillful way.
18
To exert oneself to an excessive degree.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how kill appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

Smoking kills more people each year than alcohol and hard drugs combined.
A Troope of Horſe with Felt: Ile put't in proofe, / And when I haue ſtolne vpon theſe Son in Lawes, / Then kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill.

Etymology

From Middle English killen, kyllen, cüllen (“to strike, beat, cut”), of obscure origin. Cognate with Scots kele, keil (“to kill”). * Perhaps from unattested Old English *cyllan, from Proto-West Germanic *kwulljan, from Proto-Germanic *kwuljaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to throw, hit, hurt by throwing”). * Or, possibly a variant of Old English cwellan (“to kill, murder, execute”) (see quell). * Or, from Old Norse kolla (“to hit on the head, harm”), related to Norwegian kylla (“to poll”), Middle Dutch kollen (“to knock down”), Icelandic kollur (“top, head”); see also coll, cole). Compare also Saterland Frisian källe (“to hurt”), Middle Dutch kellen (“to kill, hurt”), Middle Low German kellen, killen (“to ache strongly, cause one great pain”) (whence German Low German kellen, killen (“to hurt, injure, torment, vex”)), Middle High German kellen (“to torment; torture”).

Synonyms

assassinate bump off dispatch drill ice knock off liquidate murder murk rub out slaughter slay smoke top whack claim fritter away while away break deactivate disable turn off annihilatebust one's assbag baptizebereave of lifeblight bring down bury cackcompromised to a permanent endcroak crush dash dead demolish destroy dispose of do do in dust eliminate end eradicate ex exterminate finish finish off flatten greaselay waste tomake away with merc mortify neutralize obliterate off pay off pick off polish off pop off punch someone's ticket put an end to put down put someone out of their miseryput six feet underput to sleep ravage ruin scotch scupper scuttlesend to eternitysend to hellsend to the gravesend to the great beyondsend to the next lifeslime outsmash smite snuff squash stiff stop someone's clock take terminate terminate with extreme prejudice top off torpedo take care of take down take out waste wax wet wipe out wreck

Antonyms

save rescue resurrect revive raise reanimate reawaken requicken revivifyraise from the deadvitalise vivificate vivify give birth birth germinate spawn whelp

This word in other languages

matar(Español)tuer(Français)töten(Deutsch)matar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

ikll
kil
kkill
klil

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of kill - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

Edit distance from "kill"

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

How do you spell "kill"?

"kill" is spelled K-I-L-L. The IPA pronunciation is /kɪl/.

What does "kill" mean?

As a verb, "kill" means: To put to death; to extinguish the life of.

What words are commonly confused with "kill"?

"kill" is commonly confused with "KL", "Kim", "kit". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.

How do you pronounce "kill"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "kill" is /kɪl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.

What is the origin of the word "kill"?

Is PlainSpell free to use?

Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "kill", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

poor#855 damn#845 born#843 code#863