Sheol
/ˈʃi.oʊl/
"sheol" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Sheol” is uncommon English (frequency #87,814 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #87,814
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The realm of the dead, the common grave of mankind, Hell. In older English translations of the Bible, notably the Authorized Version or King James Bible, this word sheol is translated inconsistentl...
Corpus desk
Index EN-sheol · Sheol · English
Sheol · rank #87,814 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #87,814
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 54,294
- PHOTO-FINISH Shenton
Nearest frequency peer: Shenton (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “Sheol”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- sessional
sessional
12,192 corpus weight
- shapeshift
shapeshift
12,190 corpus weight
- shearman
shearman
12,189 corpus weight
- Shenton
Shenton
12,188 corpus weight
- Sheol
Sheol
12,187 corpus weight
- shofar
shofar
12,183 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “Sheol” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Sheol |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈʃi.oʊl/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #87,814 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Sheol” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Sheol is uncommon English at frequency #87,814 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ˈʃi.oʊl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The realm of the dead, the common grave of mankind, Hell. In older English translations of the Bible, notably the Authorized Version or King James Bible, this word sheol is translated inconsistentl...".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for Sheol, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Hebrew שְׁאוֹל, שְׁאֹל (sheól, “abode of the dead, underworld, netherworld, etc.”). The correct English form is Sheol, spelled S-H-E-O-L.
Definition
- 1The realm of the dead, the common grave of mankind, Hell. In older English translations of the Bible, notably the Authorized Version or King James Bible, this word sheol is translated inconsistently and variously as grave (31 times), pit (3 times) or hell (31 times: e.g., De. 32:22; 2Sa. 22:6; Job 11:8; Ps. 9:17).
Etymology
Borrowed from Hebrew שְׁאוֹל, שְׁאֹל (sheól, “abode of the dead, underworld, netherworld, etc.”).
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Sheol", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
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.