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# pile

«pile» in Mova's school dictionary: **a lot of things put one on top of another** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (pile, piles); verb (pile, piles, piled, piling)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A pile is a lot of things put one on top of another. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pile/#m1)

2) To pile (up) is to put things in a pile, or to grow into a pile. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pile/#m2)

3) «Piles of» or «a pile of» can mean a lot of: piles of homework. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pile/#m3)

4) A pile is also a big post pushed into the ground to hold up a building or bridge. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pile/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In maths: a group of things; equal piles mean equal groups; sorting into piles; per pile = total ÷ piles. In everyday life: a pile of laundry, a pile of leaves to jump in. In science and building: piles hold up bridges and houses on soft ground. In stories: «a pile of gold».

### examples

- There are 4 piles of 10 books. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pile/#x1)
- She made 3 piles of leaves. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pile/#x2)
- He put the cards into 5 equal piles. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pile/#x3)
- How many are in each pile? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pile/#x4)
- The kids jumped into the pile of leaves. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pile/#x5)
- My clothes are in a pile on the floor. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pile/#x6)
- The snow piled up against the door. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pile/#x7)
- I have a pile of homework tonight. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pile/#x8)
- Sort the coins into piles of ten. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pile/#x9)
- On a pile of cushions, covered with tapestry, sat the boy. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pile/#x10)

### note

Equal piles: total = piles × per pile; per pile = total ÷ piles. Trap: if the piles are not equal, add each pile. «Pile up» can mean things are collecting: «the dishes piled up». Safety: piles of heavy boxes can fall over; do not climb them.

### In the corpora

- [AI can sort emails at work and save time, but it sometimes puts important ones in the wrong pile.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/18-cars-doctors-translators/14/)
- [Meerkats live in big burrows with many tunnels and sleep piled together, because deserts get cold at night.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/125-timon-and-pumbaa-real-meerkats-and-warthogs/10/)
- [It has left its mother, brothers and sisters and the warm pile where it slept.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/326-a-puppy-at-home-the-first-weeks/1/)
- [Picture the first night: the puppy cries in the dark kitchen because it misses that warm pile.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/326-a-puppy-at-home-the-first-weeks/2/)
- [Kick through a pile of yellow and red leaves and you are walking on a tree's old solar panels.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/335-the-garden-in-autumn-colours-conkers-webs-and-buried-nuts/1/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «pile» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pile/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.