vial
vi·al/ˈvaɪəl/noun, verb
vial is spelled V-I-A-L: 4 letters and 2 syllables (vi·al). It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,367th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “vial vs vile” about 260 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, vial means “A glass or plastic vessel or bottle, especially a small tube-shaped bottle used to store medicine, perfume or other chemicals” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of vial is vials.
How many letters and syllables are in vial?
| Letters | 4: V-I-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: vi·al |
| In writing | 1.3 times per million words; the 25,367th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is vial?
Vial 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 vial?
- UK /ˈvaɪəl/
- UK /ˈvaɪl/
- British /ˈvɑj(ə)l/
Vial has 2 syllables, split vi·al in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-vial.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with vial
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: vile (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with vial?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as vial (/aɪəl/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: vail, vila, vali.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of vial
- vials plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- vialing US, participle, present
- vialling UK, participle, present
- vialed US, participle, past
- vialled UK, participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does vial mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A glass or plastic vessel or bottle, especially a small tube-shaped bottle used to store medicine, perfume or other chemicals.
verb
- 1
To keep or put (something, especially a liquid) in, or as if in, a vial (noun sense).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Vial in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense small tube-shaped bottle used to store a chemical:
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 vial come from?
From Middle English vial, viole, a variant of fiole, phiole, phial (“small bowl or cup for liquids, etc.; flask”) [and other forms]: see further at phial. Doublet of phiale.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).