pellet
/ˈpɛl.ɪt/noun, verb
pellet is spelled P-E-L-L-E-T: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,367th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pellet means “A small, compressed, hard chunk of matter” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pellet is pellets.
How many letters and syllables are in pellet?
| Letters | 6: P-E-L-L-E-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.3 times per million words; the 25,367th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is pellet?
Pellet appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,367th 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 pellet?
- US /ˈpɛl.ɪt/
- Australia /ˈpel.ɪt/
Pellet 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-pellet.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of pellet
- pellets plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- pelleting participle, present
- pelleted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pellet mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A small, compressed, hard chunk of matter.
a pellet of wood, paper, or ore
- 2
A lead projectile used as ammunition in rifled air guns.
- 3
Compressed byproduct of digestion regurgitated by owls and many other birds of prey, which serves as a waste disposal mechanism for indigestible parts of food, such as fur and bones.
- 4
A roundel sable (black circular spot).
- 5
One of the short conductive tubes in a Pelletron particle accelerator.
verb
- 1
To form into pellets.
- 2
To strike with pellets.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pellet in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | granule , plomb , pelote |
| Portuguese | sedimento , pelota de chumbo, chumbinho , plumada, egagrópila |
| Spanish | bolita, pellet (pélet) , balín, perdigón , egagrópila |
| German | Gewölle |
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 pellet come from?
Inherited from Middle English pelote, pelet, from Old French pelote (“small ball”), from Vulgar Latin *pilotta, diminutive of Latin pila (“ball”). Doublet of pelota.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).