/l/ — the L sound as in like, all, help

The main spelling (~100%)

⟨l⟩ ~99%

The letter ⟨l⟩ is the almost universal spelling for /l/.

like long last look left live light help

⟨ll⟩

Doubled ⟨ll⟩ appears in the middle of words after short vowels, and at the end of short words.

call all well tell full follow really

Tip: Word-final ⟨ll⟩ is common in short, high-frequency words: all, well, tell, full, call, will, still.

Unusual spellings (<1%)

⟨le⟩

Word-final ⟨le⟩ is actually a two-phoneme grapheme that represents /əl/ (schwa + L). The ⟨e⟩ is not silent — together with ⟨l⟩, it forms a syllable.

little table people simple middle bottle

Note: The ⟨le⟩ ending in words like little and table is pronounced as a syllable /əl/, not just /l/. It's sometimes called "syllabic L." See the syllabic L rule for more.