Which to use
“shilling” and “shillings” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,393
- “shilling” frequency rank
- #23,672
- “shillings” frequency rank
- 47065
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shilling | shillings |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A coin formerly used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, Australia, New Zealand and many other Commonwealth countries worth twelve old pence, or one twentieth of a pound sterling. | plural of shilling |
Where the eye mixes shilling and shillings
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. shilling runs 8 letters (CCVCCVCC) against shillings's 9 (CCVCCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: shilling vs shillings
A purely visual mix-up. shilling (/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 differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “shilling” sits inside “shillings”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47065, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shilling is recorded at frequency rank #23,393, 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 47065, this pair ranks #205,872 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of shilling vs shillings
Shared letters: ghilns. Private to "shilling": -. Private to "shillings": -.
"shilling" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC · "shillings" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "shilling" and "shillings" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "shilling" or "shillings"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "shilling" 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 #205,872 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shilling" 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 #205,872 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.