# score

> English word · Noun · IPA /skɔː/ · frequency rank #1,576

## Definitions
1. The total number of goals, points, runs, etc. earned by a participant in a game.
2. The number of points accrued by each of the participants in a game, expressed as a ratio or a series of numbers.
3. The performance of an individual or group on an examination or test, expressed by a number, letter, or other symbol; a grade.
4. Twenty (20).
5. Twenty (20).
6. Twenty (20).
7. Twenty (20).
8. Twenty (20).
9. A great deal; many, several.
10. An amount of money won in gambling; winnings.
11. The written form of a musical composition showing all instrumental and vocal parts.
12. The music of a movie or play.
13. A subject.
14. An account; a reason; a motive; a sake; a behalf.
15. A notch or incision; especially, one that is made as a tally mark; hence, a mark, or line, made for the purpose of account.
16. An account or reckoning; account of dues; bill; debt.
17. A criminal act, especially:
18. A criminal act, especially:
19. A criminal act, especially:
20. A criminal act, especially:
21. A sexual conquest.
22. In the Lowestoft area, a narrow pathway running down a cliff to the beach.
23. A document which systematically lists differences among compiled manuscripts of a source text.

## Etymology
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.

## Easily confused with
- **soe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-soe)
- **sor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-sor)
- **some** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-some)
- **sure** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-sure)
- **sort** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-sort)
- **sole** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-sole)
- **shoe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-shoe)
- **sore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-sore)
- **sire** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-sire)
- **Scot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-scot)
- **sora** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-sora)
- **sone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-sone)
- **story** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-story)
- **short** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-short)
- **share** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-share)
- **store** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-store)
- **stone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-stone)
- **sport** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-sport)
- **Scott** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-scott)
- **smoke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/score-vs-smoke)

## Common misspellings (7)
`csore`, `sccore`, `scoer`, `scorre`, `scroe`, `socre`, `sscore`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/score