screw

/skɹuː/

//skɹuː// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"screw" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“screw” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,710 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#4,710
frequency rank, English
5
letters
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A device that has a helical function.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

screw vs sew
60% similar
screw vs sure
60% similar
screw vs sore
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for screw
PropertyValue
Headwordscrew
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/skɹuː/
Letters5
Frequency rank#4,710
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “screw” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). screw lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for screw is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /skɹuː/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,710 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 18 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for screw, with forms such as "csrew", "sccrew", and "scerw". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "sew", "sure", "sore", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English screw, scrue (“screw”); apparently, despite the difference in meaning, from Old French escroue (“nut, cylindrical socket, screwhole”), from Latin scrōfa (“female pig”) through comparison with the corkscrew shape of a pig's penis. There i… The correct English form is screw, spelled S-C-R-E-W.

Definition

  1. 1
    A device that has a helical function.
  2. 2
    A device that has a helical function.
  3. 3
    A device that has a helical function.
  4. 4
    A device that has a helical function.
  5. 5
    A device that has a helical function.
  6. 6
    The motion of screwing something; a turn or twist to one side.
  7. 7
    A prison guard.
  8. 8
    An extortioner; a sharp bargainer; a skinflint.
  9. 9
    An instructor who examines with great or unnecessary severity; also, a searching or strict examination of a student by an instructor.
  10. 10
    Sexual intercourse; the act of screwing.
  11. 11
    A casual sexual partner.
  12. 12
    Salary, wages.
  13. 13
    Backspin.
  14. 14
    A small quantity of a material such as salt or tobacco wrapped in twist of paper.
  15. 15
    An old, worn-out, unsound and worthless horse.
  16. 16
    A straight line in space with which a definite linear magnitude termed the pitch is associated. It is used to express the displacement of a rigid body, which may always be made to consist of a rotation about an axis combined with a translation parallel to that axis.
  17. 17
    An amphipod crustacean.
  18. 18
    Rheumatism.

Etymology

From Middle English screw, scrue (“screw”); apparently, despite the difference in meaning, from Old French escroue (“nut, cylindrical socket, screwhole”), from Latin scrōfa (“female pig”) through comparison with the corkscrew shape of a pig's penis. There is also the Old French escruve (“screw”), from Old Dutch *scrūva ("screw"; whence Middle Dutch schruyve (“screw”)), which probably influenced or conflated with the aforementioned, resulting in the Middle English word. more on the etymology of screw Old French escroue (whence Medieval Latin scrofa (“nut, screwhole”)), is believed to be an adaptation of Latin scrōfa (“sow, female pig”); but this development is not found in other Romance languages. (For change in meaning, compare also Spanish puerca, Portuguese porca, both ‘sow; screw nut’, and is based on the fact that a boar's penis has a screw-like tip, making the sow's vulva equivalent to a screw nut by analogy). Old Dutch *scrūva possibly derives from Proto-Germanic *skrūbō (“screw”), from *skru- (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keru-, *(s)ker- (“to cut”), and is related to German Schraube (“screw”), Low German schruve, schruwe (“screw”), Dutch schroef (“screw”), West Frisian skroef (“screw”), Danish skrue (“screw”), Swedish skruv (“screw, peg”), Icelandic skrúfa (“screw”). Compare also Occitan escrofa (“screw nut”), Calabrese scrufina (“screw nut”), which may be borrowings of the Old French word, or parallel developments.

This word in other languages

tornillo(Español)vis(Français)Schraube(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: csrew,sccrew,scerw,screww,scrrew,scrwe,srcew,sscrew

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of screw - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

csrew2sccrew1scerw2screww1scrrew1scrwe2srcew2sscrew1
Edit distance from "screw"

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

How do you spell "screw"?
"screw" is spelled S-C-R-E-W. The IPA pronunciation is /skɹuː/.
What does "screw" mean?
As a noun, "screw" means: A device that has a helical function.
What words are commonly confused with "screw"?
"screw" is commonly confused with "sew", "sure", "sore". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "screw"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "screw" is /skɹuː/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "screw"?
From Middle English screw, scrue (“screw”); apparently, despite the difference in meaning, from Old French escroue (“nut, cylindrical socket, screwhole”), from Latin scrōfa (“female pig”) through comparison with the corkscrew shape of a pig's peni... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “screw”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is S-C-R-E-W - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /skɹuː/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “sew” - see the side-by-side comparison. screw vs sew
  • 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list