One syllable: fill.
fil
/fɪl/
fill is pronounced fil (/fɪl/). It has one syllable (fill), with the stress on "fill". Fill is a short, monosyllabic verb meaning to make something full or to occupy a space. It is commonly used to describe adding content, packing a container, or completing a form. The word emphasizes capacity and occupancy rather than the process of adding or changing shape. It often appears in everyday speech and formal contexts alike.
Fill is a short, monosyllabic verb meaning to make something full or to occupy a space. It is commonly used to describe adding content, packing a container, or completing a form. The word emphasizes capacity and occupancy rather than the process of adding or changing shape. It often appears in everyday speech and formal contexts alike.
"Please fill the bottle with water."
"She filled out the form before the deadline."
"The architect plans to fill the room with warm lighting."
Pronounce /fɪl/ with a short, lax vowel /ɪ/ as in 'sit,' followed by the light /l/ at the alveolar ridge. Primary stress is on the single syllable. Tip: keep the jaw relaxed, the tongue high-front for /ɪ/, and finish with a crisp /l/ without-tone or extra vowel after it. IPA: /fɪl/. Audio reference: any standard American/UK pronunciation resource will render it identically in most dialects.
Common mistakes include elongating the vowel into a lax but longer /ɪː/ sound, or turning the final /l/ into a vowel-like ending (e.g., 'filll' or 'filluh'). Another error is reducing the /l/ to a dark or light variant without transitioning from the vowel. To correct: keep the vowel short and crisp, touch the alveolar ridge with the tip of the tongue for /l/, and avoid adding an extra vowel after /l/.
In US, UK, and AU, /fɪl/ remains a short vowel with a clear /l/. The main variation is rhotics and vowel quality around surrounding words; the /ɪ/ tends to be a slightly higher and tenser vowel in some US regions, but not dramatically. In non-rhotic accents (some UK varieties), you might hear a softer /l/ with less vowel coloring before it in connected speech. Overall core pronunciation stays /fɪl/ across these accents.
The challenge lies in producing a crisp, short vowel /ɪ/ and a light, precise /l/ without adding schwa after it. Students often lengthen the vowel or merge the /l/ with a following consonant. Achieve accuracy by focusing on a quick, closed jaw, high-front tongue position for /ɪ/, and a clean alveolar contact for /l/ with minimal vocalic leakage after the consonant.
The key is the short, clipped nature of the single syllable with an immediate /l/ closure. Unlike words ending with a nasal or a vowel, 'fill' ends with a liquid consonant that requires precise tongue-tip contact and no post-vocalic vowel. Practicing minimal pairs like fill–fail can help you feel the boundary between the vowel and the /l/.
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Fill comes from Old English fyllan, related to German füllen and Dutch vullen, from Proto-Germanic *fyllaną, derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *peu- meaning 'to fill, to stuff, to fill up.' The sense development tracks a shift from a physical act of filling such as stuffing a container to more abstract uses like filling time, space, or a form. Early Old English texts used fyllan in religious or everyday contexts, such as filling vessels or spaces, and by Middle English it broadened to include more figurative meanings. Over centuries, the verb retained its core idea of making something complete or occupied, while adopting collocations in business, education, and technology (e.g., fill out a form, fill in data). The first known written uses appear in heroic and legal manuscripts from the 9th-12th centuries, with more standardized spelling evolving in Early Modern English. Modern usage solidified around the 16th century, expanding into phrases like fill up, fill in, fill out, and to be filled with emotion or content as metaphorical extensions.
💡 Etymology tip: Understanding word origins can help you remember pronunciation patterns and recognize related words in the same language family.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "fill" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "fill" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "fill"
-ill sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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