high school
/ˈhaɪ.skul/
"high-school" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“high school” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An institution which provides all or part of secondary education.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | high school |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhaɪ.skul/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “high school” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for high school is 11 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhaɪ.skul/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
high school doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English hyȝ scole (“school for higher education”), equivalent to high + school. Cognate with Dutch hogeschool (“academy, university, graduate school”), German Hochschule (“academy, college, university”). The correct English form is high school, spelled H-I-G-H- -S-C-H-O-O-L.
Definition
- 1An institution which provides all or part of secondary education.
- 2A secondary school.
- 3A secondary education school, consisting of junior high school and senior high school (grades 7-12)
- 4A secondary education school for years 1-4 (now junior high school)
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English hyȝ scole (“school for higher education”), equivalent to high + school. Cognate with Dutch hogeschool (“academy, university, graduate school”), German Hochschule (“academy, college, university”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “high school”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-I-G-H- -S-C-H-O-O-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhaɪ.skul/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.