shield
/ˈʃiːld/
"shield" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shield” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,333 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #4,333
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 10
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | shield |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈʃiːld/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #4,333 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 10 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “shield” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for shield is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈʃiːld/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,333 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 15 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for shield, with forms such as "hsield", "sheild", and "shhield". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 10 confusable-pair relationships, "shred", "shill", "spiel", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English scheld, shelde, from Old English scield (“shield”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeldu, from Proto-Germanic *skelduz (“shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“cut, split”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian skyld (“shield”), Bavari… The correct English form is shield, spelled S-H-I-E-L-D.
Definition
- 1Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection.
- 2Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection.
- 3Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection.
- 4Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection.
- 5Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection.
- 6A shape like that of a shield; usually, an inverted triangle with sides that curve inward to form a pointed bottom, commonly used for police identifications and company logos.
- 7A shape like that of a shield; usually, an inverted triangle with sides that curve inward to form a pointed bottom, commonly used for police identifications and company logos.
- 8A shape like that of a shield; usually, an inverted triangle with sides that curve inward to form a pointed bottom, commonly used for police identifications and company logos.
- 9A shape like that of a shield; usually, an inverted triangle with sides that curve inward to form a pointed bottom, commonly used for police identifications and company logos.
- 10A shape like that of a shield; usually, an inverted triangle with sides that curve inward to form a pointed bottom, commonly used for police identifications and company logos.
- 11A shape like that of a shield; usually, an inverted triangle with sides that curve inward to form a pointed bottom, commonly used for police identifications and company logos.
- 12A large expanse of exposed stable Precambrian rock.
- 13A large expanse of exposed stable Precambrian rock.
- 14A place with a toilet seat: an outhouse; a lavatory.
- 15Parts at the front and back of a vehicle which are meant to absorb the impact of a collision
Etymology
From Middle English scheld, shelde, from Old English scield (“shield”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeldu, from Proto-Germanic *skelduz (“shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“cut, split”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian skyld (“shield”), Bavarian Schuid (“shield”), Dutch schild (“shield”), German and Low German Schild (“shield”), Luxembourgish Schëld (“shield”), Yiddish שילד (shild, “shield”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk skjold (“shield”), Elfdalian stjöld (“shield”), Faroese skjøldur (“shield”), Gutnish skiåld (“shield”), Icelandic skjöldur (“shield”), Swedish sköld (“shield”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌹𐌻𐌳𐌿𐍃 (skildus, “shield”). Compare Breton skoed (“shield”), Irish sciath (“shield”), Scottish Gaelic sgiath (“shield”), Latin scūtum (“shield”), Latgalian škīda (“shield”), Lithuanian skydas (“shield”), Belarusian шчыт (ščyt, “shield”), Bulgarian, Russian, and Ukrainian щит (ščyt, “shield”), Czech and Slovak štít (“shield”), Macedonian штит (štit, “shield”), Polish szczyt (“shield”), Serbo-Croatian штит, štit, ščit (“shield”), Slovene ščit (“shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to dissect, split”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hsield,sheild,shhield,shiedl,shieldd,shielld,shiled,siheld,sshield
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of shield - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "shield"?
What does "shield" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "shield"?
How do you pronounce "shield"?
What is the origin of the word "shield"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “shield”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-H-I-E-L-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈʃiːld/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “shred” - see the side-by-side comparison. shield vs shred
- 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.