lil
/lɪl/adjective
lil is spelled L-I-L: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 7.6 times per million words in written English, the 8,542nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Lil, the name). As an adjective, lil means “Alternative form of li'l” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in lil?
| Letters | 3: L-I-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 7.6 times per million words; the 8,542nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 lil?
Lil appears 7.6 times per million words in written English, the 8,542nd most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Lil, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce lil?
- /lɪl/
Lil 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Persent101-lil.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with lil
Also written: li'l.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with lil?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as lil.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: ill.
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).
What does lil mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Alternative form of li'l.
noun
- 1
obsoleteA book.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).