meal

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

/miːl/

//miːl// noun

By PlainSpell Editorial Team · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed May 6, 2026

The verdict

“meal” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,113 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#3,113
frequency rank, English: 4
letters: 3
tracked misspellings: 20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

meal vs ML

0% similar

meal vs men

50% similar

meal vs met

50% similar

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

Key facts for meal
Property	Value
Headword	meal
Language	English
Part of speech	Noun
IPA	/miːl/
Letters	4
Frequency rank	#3,113
Misspellings tracked	3
Confusable pairs	20
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “meal” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). meal lands here:

#3,113

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

← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for meal is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /miːl/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,113 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for meal, with forms such as "emal", "meall", and "mmeal". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ML", "men", "met", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English mel, from Old English mǣl (“measure, time, occasion, set time, time for eating, meal”), from Proto-West Germanic *māl, from Proto-Germanic *mēlą, from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”). Cognate with West Frisian miel, Dutch maal … The correct English form is meal, spelled M-E-A-L.

Definition

1
Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity.
2
Food served or eaten as a repast.
3
A break taken by a police officer in order to eat.
4
A time or an occasion.

Etymology

From Middle English mel, from Old English mǣl (“measure, time, occasion, set time, time for eating, meal”), from Proto-West Germanic *māl, from Proto-Germanic *mēlą, from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”). Cognate with West Frisian miel, Dutch maal (“meal, time, occurrence”), German Mal (“time”), Mahl (“meal”), Norwegian Bokmål mål (“meal”), Swedish mål (“meal”); and (from Proto-Indo-European) with Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure”), Latin mensus, Russian ме́ра (méra, “measure”), Lithuanian mẽtas. Related to Old English mǣþ (“measure, degree, proportion”).

Synonyms

meal mese refection repast

This word in other languages

comida(Español)repas(Français)Mahlzeit(Deutsch)refeição(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: emal,meall,mmeal

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of meal - 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 "meal"

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 "meal"?

"meal" is spelled M-E-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is /miːl/.

What does "meal" mean?

As a noun, "meal" means: Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity.

What words are commonly confused with "meal"?

"meal" is commonly confused with "ML", "men", "met". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.

How do you pronounce "meal"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "meal" is /miːl/. 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 "meal"?

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.

Using “meal”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

The one correct English spelling is M-E-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Say it as /miːl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
Don't mix it up with “ML” - see the side-by-side comparison. meal vs ML
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.