teil

/tiːl/

//tiːl// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"teil" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“teil” is uncommon English (frequency #78,190 among 3,151 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#78,190
frequency rank, English
3,151
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The lime tree, or linden.

Corpus desk

Index EN-teil · teil · English

teil · rank #78,190 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #78,190
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH Teena

Nearest frequency peer: Teena (-1 rank slots)

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.

Long-tail ranks near “teil”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “teil” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for teil
PropertyValue
Headwordteil
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/tiːl/
Letters4
Frequency rank#78,190
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “teil” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).teilfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “Teena” (#78,189), “tearoom” (#78,188), “tansy” (#78,187). Among 3,151 “T” headwords, “teil” is #78,190. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

teil is uncommon English at frequency #78,190 among 3,151 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /tiːl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The lime tree, or linden.".

teil doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French teil, til, from Latin tilia. The correct English form is teil, spelled T-E-I-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    The lime tree, or linden.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how teil appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

Etymology

From Old French teil, til, from Latin tilia.

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 "teil"?
"teil" is spelled T-E-I-L. The IPA pronunciation is /tiːl/.
What does "teil" mean?
As a noun, "teil" means: The lime tree, or linden.
How do you pronounce "teil"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "teil" is /tiːl/. 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 "teil"?
From Old French teil, til, from Latin tilia. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "teil", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

thew#78,195tipi#78,205Tipp#78,206toff#78,211

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list