schillingvsshillingsTell them apart

Which to use

“schilling” and “shillings” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#37,215
“schilling” frequency rank
#23,672
“shillings” frequency rank
60887
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schilling shillings
Definition The old currency of Austria, divided into 100 groschen. plural of shilling

Where the eye mixes schilling and shillings

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. schilling (CCCVCCVCC) and shillings (CCVCCVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
schilling
9 ch
shillings

Why the eye confuses schilling with shillings

A purely visual mix-up. schilling (/ˈʃɪlɪŋ/) and shillings (/ˈʃɪlɪŋz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 7 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60887, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schilling is recorded at frequency rank #37,215, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃɪlɪŋ/. shillings is at rank #23,672, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃɪlɪŋz/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 60887, this pair ranks #97,556 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of schilling vs shillings

Shared letters: ghilns. Private to "schilling": c. Private to "shillings": -.

"schilling" · 9 letters · shape CCCVCCVCC  ·  "shillings" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schillingcshilling · scchilling · schhilling · schililng · schiling · schillign · schillingg · schillinng
  • shillingshsillings · shhillings · shililngs · shilings · shilligns · shillinggs · shillingss · shillinngs

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "schilling" and "shillings" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈʃɪlɪŋ/ versus /ˈʃɪlɪŋz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "schilling" or "shillings"?
"shillings" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,672 in our English list, against #37,215 for "schilling". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "schilling" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "shillings" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #97,556 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schilling" and "shillings" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shillings vs spellings". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #97,556 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list