will
[wɪɫ]verb, noun
will is spelled W-I-L-L. The wrong spelling people search most is weill: about 550 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 60 of all searches for the word. Will is a verb meaning “Used to express the future tense, sometimes with an implication of volition or determination when used in the…”.
How many letters and syllables are in will?
| Letters | 4: W-I-L-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2,818 times per million words; the 42nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 5; the most searched, weill, about 550 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people 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); 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).
How do you spell will?
Will is spelled W-I-L-L. 5 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 46 of the searches for will in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is will?
Will appears 2,818 times per million words in written English, the 42nd 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 will?
- /wɪl/
- US [wɪɫ]
- [wɪo̯]
Will has one syllable (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-will.wav, En-us-will.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-AnotherFriendlyHuman-Will.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with will
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of will
- willing participle, present
- would past, singular, he/she/it, plural, participle, rare
- 'll
- vill
- weel
- wills plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- willed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does will mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
Used to express the future tense, sometimes with an implication of volition or determination when used in the first person. Compare shall.
Do not forget, will you?
- 2
To be able to, to have the capacity to.
Unfortunately, only one of these gloves will actually fit over my hand.
- 3
Expressing a present tense or perfect tense with some conditional or subjective weakening: "will turn out to", "must by inference".
He will be home by now. He always gets home before 6 o'clock.
- 4
To habitually do (a given action).
Boys will be boys.
- 5
To choose or agree to (do something); used to express intention but without any temporal connotations, often in questions and negation.
Will you marry me?
- 6
To wish, desire (something).
Do what you will.
- 7
archaicTo wish or desire (that something happen); to intend (that).
Consider, if you will, the possibility that the sherry glasses were misplaced accidentally.
- 8
archaicImplying will go.
- 9
To instruct (that something be done) in one's will.
- 10
To bequeath (something) to someone in one's will (legal document).
He willed his stamp collection to the local museum.
- 11
To exert one's force of will (intention) in order to compel, or attempt to compel, something to happen or someone to do something.
All the fans were willing their team to win the game.
noun
- 1
One's independent faculty of choice; the ability to be able to exercise one's choice or intention.
Of course, man's will is often regulated by his reason.
- 2
The act of choosing to do something; a person’s conscious intent or volition.
Most creatures have a will to live.
- 3
One's intention or decision; someone's orders or commands.
Eventually I submitted to my parents' will.
- 4
Firmness of purpose, fixity of intent
- 5
A formal declaration of one's intent concerning the disposal of one's property and holdings after death; the legal document stating such wishes.
- 6
archaicThat which is desired; one's wish.
- 7
archaicDesire, longing. (Now generally merged with later senses.)
He felt a great will to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
noun
- 1
A weak-side linebacker.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Will in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | vouloir , -ras, -ra, -rons, -rez, -ront |
| German | wollen , werden, present tense form is often used , Wille , vermachen |
| Portuguese | desejar , arbítrio , legar , vontade |
| Spanish | desear, anhelar , future tense, ir a , voluntad, albedrío |
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 will come from?
From Middle English willen, wullen, wollen, from Old English willan (“to want”), from Proto-West Germanic *willjan, from Proto-Germanic *wiljaną, from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to choose, wish”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).