sconce
/skɒns/
"sconce" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sconce” is uncommon English (frequency #92,046 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #92,046
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A fixture for a light, which holds it and provides a screen against wind or against a naked flame or lightbulb.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sconce · sconce · English
sconce · rank #92,046 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #92,046
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH Sderot
Nearest frequency peer: Sderot (+2 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “sconce”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Sapphic
Sapphic
7,963 corpus weight
- sare
sare
7,962 corpus weight
- sauced
sauced
7,959 corpus weight
- sconce
sconce
7,955 corpus weight
- Sderot
Sderot
7,953 corpus weight
- Sedna
Sedna
7,951 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “sconce” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sconce |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /skɒns/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #92,046 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “sconce” in English
Rare enough to double-check
sconce is uncommon English at frequency #92,046 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /skɒns/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for sconce in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sconce, sconse (“candlestick or lantern (with screen)”), from Old French esconse (“lantern”), from Latin absconsus (“hidden”), perfect passive participle of abscondō (“hide”). Cognate with abscond. The correct English form is sconce, spelled S-C-O-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1A fixture for a light, which holds it and provides a screen against wind or against a naked flame or lightbulb.
- 2A fixture for a light, which holds it and provides a screen against wind or against a naked flame or lightbulb.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sconce appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[…]tapers put into lanterns or sconces of several-coloured, oiled paper, that the wind might not annoy them.
Golden sconces hang not on the walls.
Etymology
From Middle English sconce, sconse (“candlestick or lantern (with screen)”), from Old French esconse (“lantern”), from Latin absconsus (“hidden”), perfect passive participle of abscondō (“hide”). Cognate with abscond.
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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sconce", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).