school
/skul/noun, verb
school is spelled S-C-H-O-O-L. The wrong spelling people search most is skul: about 230 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 227 of all searches for the word. School is a noun meaning “An institution dedicated to teaching and learning; an educational institution”. The plural of school is schools.
How many letters and syllables are in school?
| Letters | 6: S-C-H-O-O-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 513 times per million words; the 188th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, skul, about 230 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell school?
School is spelled S-C-H-O-O-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 230 of the searches for school in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is school?
School appears 513 times per million words in written English, the 188th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce school?
- UK /skuːl/
- UK [skuːɫ]
- US /skul/
School has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-school.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Qwertygiy-school.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with school
Also written: skull.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with school?
9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as school from its last stressed vowel (/ul/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of school
- schools plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- schooling participle, present
- schooled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does school mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
CanadaIndiaUSAn institution dedicated to teaching and learning; an educational institution.
Our children attend a public school in our neighborhood.
- 2
UKAn educational institution providing primary and secondary education, prior to tertiary education (college or university).
- 3
UKAt Eton College, a period or session of teaching.
Divinity, history and geography are studied for two schools per week.
- 4
Within a larger educational institution, an organizational unit, such as a department or institute, which is dedicated to a specific subject area.
We are enrolled in the same university, but I attend the School of Economics and my brother is in the School of Music.
- 5
An art movement, a community of artists.
The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic movement of the time.
- 6
The followers of a particular doctrine; a particular way of thinking or particular doctrine; a school of thought.
These economists belong to the monetarist school.
- 7
The time during which classes are attended or in session in an educational institution.
I’ll see you after school.
- 8
The room or hall in English universities where the examinations for degrees and honours are held.
- 9
A group of fish or a group of marine mammals such as porpoises, dolphins, or whales.
The divers encountered a huge school of mackerel.
- 10
A multitude.
verb
- 1
To educate, teach, or train (often, but not necessarily, in a school).
Many future prime ministers were schooled in Eton.
- 2
To defeat emphatically, to teach an opponent a harsh lesson.
- 3
To control, or compose, one’s expression.
She took care to school her expression, not giving away any of her feelings.
- 4
To form into, or travel in, a school.
School with other fish: you’re less likely to be eaten.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate school?
Wiktionary records 4 abbreviations of school: Sch., sch, sch., schl..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
School in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | école, collège , université, faculté , banc |
| German | Schule , Universität, Hochschule , Fakultät , unterrichten, schulen |
| Portuguese | escola, colégio , universidade, faculdade , educar, instruir |
| Spanish | escuela, colegio , universidad, facultad , educar, escolarizar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does school come from?
From Middle English scole, from Old English scōl (“place of education”), from Proto-West Germanic *skōlu, from Late Latin schola, scola (“learned discussion or dissertation, lecture, school”), from Ancient Greek σχολή (skholḗ, “spare time, leisure”), from Proto-Indo-European *seǵʰ- (“to hold, have, possess”). Doublet of schola and shul. Compare Old Frisian skūle, schūle (“school”) (West Frisian skoalle, Saterland Frisian Skoule), Dutch school (“school”), Low German School (“school”), Old High German scuola (“school”), German Schule (“school”), Old Norse skóli (“school”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).