shall
/ʃæl/verb
shall is spelled S-H-A-L-L: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 107 times per million words in written English, the 996th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, shall means “Used before a verb to indicate the simple future tense in the first person singular or plural” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in shall?
| Letters | 5: S-H-A-L-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 107 times per million words; the 996th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is shall?
Shall appears 107 times per million words in written English, the 996th 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 shall?
- /ʃæl/
- /ʃal/
- /ʃɛl/
Shall 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-shall.ogg, En-US_shall_(unstressed).ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with shall
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: shan't.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with shall?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as shall.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: halls.
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 shall
- should past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does shall mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
Used before a verb to indicate the simple future tense in the first person singular or plural.
I shall sing in the choir tomorrow.
- 2
Used similarly to indicate determination or obligation in the second and third persons singular or plural.
(determination): You shall go to the ball!; He shall be given a fair trial.
- 3
Used in questions with the first person singular or plural to suggest a possible future action.
What shall I do? Shall I give you a hand?
- 4
obsoleteTo owe.
I thee shall a hundred golden coins; th'amount thou shalt the Queen is much higher.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Shall in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | werden , sollen |
| French | devoir, être obligé de, tu iras au bal! , or, informally |
| Portuguese | dever, precisar |
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 shall come from?
From Middle English schal (infinitive schulen), from Old English sċeal (infinitive sċulan (“should, must”)), from Proto-West Germanic *skulan, from Proto-Germanic *skal (infinitive *skulaną), from Proto-Indo-European *skel- (“to owe, be under obligation”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).