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PlainSpell

scuffle

scuf·fleUK /ˈskʌfəl/noun, verb

scuffle is spelled S-C-U-F-F-L-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables (scuf·fle). It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 37,459th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, scuffle means “A rough, disorderly fight or struggle at close quarters” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of scuffle is scuffles.

How many letters and syllables are in scuffle?

Letters7: S-C-U-F-F-L-E
Syllables2: scuf·fle
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 37,459th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is scuffle?

Scuffle appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 37,459th 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 scuffle?

  • UK /ˈskʌfəl/

Scuffle has 2 syllables, split scuf·fle in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-scuffle.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of scuffle

  • scuffles plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • scuffling participle, present
  • scuffled participle, past

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

What does scuffle mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A rough, disorderly fight or struggle at close quarters.

  2. 2

    slangPoverty; struggle.

  3. 3

    archaicA child's pinafore or bib.

  4. 4

    A type of hoe, manipulated by both pushing and pulling, with a sharp blade parallel with the worked surface; an instance of this type.

    Near-synonyms: collinear hoe, collineal hoe (loosely synonymous)

verb

  1. 1

    To fight or struggle confusedly at close quarters.

  2. 2

    To walk with a shuffling gait.

  3. 3

    slangTo make a living with difficulty, getting by on a low income, to struggle financially.

  4. 4

    To work the soil surface for weeding, etc.

    Near-synonyms: (sometimes synonymous) scarify, cultivate, grub; weed

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

Scuffle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchrixe, échauffourée, bagarre (rough, disorderly fight or struggle at close…), binette (specialized hoe for weeding)
GermanHandgemenge, Rauferei (rough, disorderly fight or struggle at close…), raufen, balgen (to fight or struggle confusedly at close…), schlurfen (to walk with a shuffling gait)
Portugueserixa (rough, disorderly fight or struggle at close…)
Spanishriña, refriega (rough, disorderly fight or struggle at close…), azada holandesa (specialized hoe for weeding), reñir (to fight or struggle confusedly at close…)

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 scuffle come from?

Possibly of North Germanic/Scandinavian origin; compare Swedish skuff (“a push”) and skuffa (“to push”), from the Proto-Germanic base *skuf- (skuƀ), from Proto-Indo-European *skewbʰ-, see also Lithuanian skùbti (“to hurry”), Polish skubać (“to pluck”), Albanian humb (“to lose”).

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

What to look up after scuffle