shekel
/ˈʃɛkəl/
"shekel" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shekel” is uncommon English (frequency #74,499 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #74,499
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A currency unit of both ancient and modern Israel.
Corpus desk
Index EN-shekel · shekel · English
shekel · rank #74,499 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #74,499
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH Sharples
Nearest frequency peer: Sharples (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “shekel”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Sela
Sela
25,510 corpus weight
- sensu
sensu
25,508 corpus weight
- Sharples
Sharples
25,503 corpus weight
- shekel
shekel
25,502 corpus weight
- shul
shul
25,499 corpus weight
- sidereal
sidereal
25,496 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “shekel” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | shekel |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈʃɛkəl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #74,499 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “shekel” in English
Rare enough to double-check
shekel is uncommon English at frequency #74,499 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈʃɛkəl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
shekel doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Hebrew שֶׁקֶל (shékel, “shekel”), from שָׁקַל (shakál, “to weigh”), from Akkadian 𒂅 (šiqlum). The correct English form is shekel, spelled S-H-E-K-E-L.
Definition
- 1A currency unit of both ancient and modern Israel.
- 2Money.
- 3An ancient unit of weight equivalent to one-fiftieth of a mina.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how shekel appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
"Beauty is naught to him, because there are lips more honey-sweet; and wealth is naught, because others can weigh him down with heavier shekels; and fame is naught, because there have been greater men than he."
Etymology
From Hebrew שֶׁקֶל (shékel, “shekel”), from שָׁקַל (shakál, “to weigh”), from Akkadian 𒂅 (šiqlum).
This word in other languages
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "shekel", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).