# pile

> English word · Noun · IPA /paɪl/ · frequency rank #5,725

## Definitions
1. A mass of things heaped together; a heap.
2. A group or list of related items up for consideration, especially in some kind of selection process.
3. A mass formed in layers.
4. A funeral pile; a pyre.
5. A large amount of money.
6. A large building, or mass of buildings.
7. A bundle of pieces of wrought iron to be worked over into bars or other shapes by rolling or hammering at a welding heat; a fagot.
8. A vertical series of alternate disks of two dissimilar metals (especially copper and zinc), laid up with disks of cloth or paper moistened with acid water between them, for producing a current of electricity; a voltaic pile, or galvanic pile.
9. A beam, pole, or pillar, driven completely into the ground, usually as one of a group that constitutes a foundation.
10. An atomic pile; an early form of nuclear reactor.
11. The reverse (or tails) of a coin.
12. A list or league

## Etymology
From Middle English pyle, from Old French pile, from Latin pīla (“pillar, pier”).

## Easily confused with
- **PL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-pl)
- **pin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-pin)
- **pit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-pit)
- **ppl** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-ppl)
- **PLC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-plc)
- **Poe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-poe)
- **pol** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-pol)
- **pip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-pip)
- **PLA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-pla)
- **ply** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-ply)
- **PPE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-ppe)
- **pix** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-pix)
- **PSL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-psl)
- **pye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-pye)
- **pir** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-pir)
- **pull** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-pull)
- **pure** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-pure)
- **pink** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-pink)
- **pope** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-pope)
- **poll** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pile-vs-poll)

## Common misspellings (5)
`iple`, `piel`, `pille`, `plie`, `ppile`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/pile