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PlainSpell

score

/skoɹ/noun, verb, interjection

score is spelled S-C-O-R-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 68 times per million words in written English, the 1,562nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, score means “The total number of goals, points, runs, etc. earned by a participant in a game” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of score is scores.

How many letters and syllables are in score?

Letters5: S-C-O-R-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing68 times per million words; the 1,562nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is score?

Score appears 68 times per million words in written English, the 1,562nd 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 score?

  • UK /skɔː/
  • US /skoɹ/
  • /sko(ː)ɹ/

Score 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-us-score.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with score?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as score from its last stressed vowel (/oɹ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: corse.

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 score

  • scores plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • scoring participle, present
  • scored participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does score mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The total number of goals, points, runs, etc. earned by a participant in a game.

    The player with the highest score is the winner.

  2. 2

    The number of points accrued by each of the participants in a game, expressed as a ratio or a series of numbers.

    The score is 8-1 even though it's not even half-time!

  3. 3

    The performance of an individual or group on an examination or test, expressed by a number, letter, or other symbol; a grade.

    The test scores for this class were high.

  4. 4

    Twenty (20).

  5. 5

    A distance of twenty yards, in ancient archery and gunnery.

  6. 6

    A weight of twenty pounds.

  7. 7

    A period of twenty years.

  8. 8

    UKslangTwenty pounds sterling.

verb

  1. 1

    To cut a notch or a groove in a surface.

    The baker scored the cake so that the servers would know where to slice it.

  2. 2

    To record the tally of points for a game, a match, or an examination.

  3. 3

    To obtain something desired.

  4. 4

    To earn points in a game.

    It is unusual for a team to score a hundred goals in one game.

  5. 5

    To achieve academic credit on a test, quiz, homework, assignment, or course.

  6. 6

    To win money by gambling.

  7. 7

    slangTo acquire or gain.

    I scored some drugs last night.

  8. 8

    USslangTo extract a bribe.

interjection

  1. 1

    USslangAn acknowledgement of success.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Score in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchnombre de points, score, pointage (number of points earned), note (performance of an individual or group on an…), vingtaine (twenty – see also twenty), partition générale (sheet music showing all parts)
GermanSpielergebnis, Spielstand (number of points earned), Stiege (twenty – see also twenty), Partitur (sheet music showing all parts), Punktzahl (number of points accrued), Kerbe (notch or incision, especially one made as tally…)
Portuguesemarcador, pontuação (number of points earned), vintena (twenty – see also twenty), resultado (number of points accrued), pontuar (to earn points in a game), faturar (to obtain a sexual favor)
Spanishtantos, puntaje, puntuación (number of points earned), veintena (twenty – see also twenty), partitura (sheet music showing all parts), marcador (number of points accrued)

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 score come from?

From Middle English score, skore, schore, from Old English scoru (“notch; tally; score”), from Old Norse skor, from Proto-Germanic *skurō (“incision; tear; rift”), which is related to *skeraną (“to cut”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“cut”). Cognate with Icelandic skora, Swedish skåra, Danish skår. Related to shear. For the sense “twenty”: The mark on a tally made by drovers for every twenty beasts passing through a tollgate.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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