run a mile
"run-a-mile" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“run a mile” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To escape, flee, or leave a situation or relationship, usually as a result of a shocking or sudden announcement or revelation.
Corpus desk
Index EN-run-a-mile · run a mile · English
run a mile · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "R" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | run a mile |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “run a mile” in English
Rare enough to double-check
run a mile is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To escape, flee, or leave a situation or relationship, usually as a result of a shocking or sudden announcement or revelation.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for run a mile in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is run a mile, spelled R-U-N- -A- -M-I-L-E.
Definition
- 1To escape, flee, or leave a situation or relationship, usually as a result of a shocking or sudden announcement or revelation.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how run a mile appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
If I told him that I had kids, he'd run a mile.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.