shrill

/ʃɹɪl/

//ʃɹɪl// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"shrill" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“shrill” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #33,847. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#33,847
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
17
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - High-pitched and piercing.

Corpus desk

Index EN-shrill · shrill · English

shrill · rank #33,847 · 8 variants · 17 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #33,847
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 17 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH shortness

Nearest frequency peer: shortness (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “shrill”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “shrill” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

shrill vs sill
67% similar
shrill vs still
67% similar
shrill vs skill
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for shrill
PropertyValue
Headwordshrill
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ʃɹɪl/
Letters6
Frequency rank#33,847
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs17
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “shrill”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).shrilllands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “shortness” (#33,846), “shopkeeper” (#33,845), “shiro” (#33,844). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “shrill” is #33,847. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around shrill (IPA /ʃɹɪl/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #33,847 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for shrill, with forms such as "hsrill", "shhrill", and "shirll". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 17 confusable-pair relationships, "sill", "still", "skill", 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 Late Middle English schrille, shirle, shrille (“of a sound: high-pitched, piercing; producing such a sound”), possibly from the earlier shil, schille (“loud, resounding; high-pitched”), from Old English scill (“sonorous sounding”), of Germanic origin a… The correct English form is shrill, spelled S-H-R-I-L-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    High-pitched and piercing.
  2. 2
    Having a shrill voice.
  3. 3
    Sharp or keen to the senses.
  4. 4
    Fierce, loud, strident.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how shrill appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The woods rang with shrill cries of the birds.
  2. Suppoſe, that you haue ſeene / The well-appointed King at Douer Peer, / Embarke his Royaltie: and his braue Fleet, / With ſilken Streamers, the young Phebus fayning; / [...] Heare the ſhrill Whiſtle, which doth order giue / To ſounds confus'd.

Etymology

From Late Middle English schrille, shirle, shrille (“of a sound: high-pitched, piercing; producing such a sound”), possibly from the earlier shil, schille (“loud, resounding; high-pitched”), from Old English scill (“sonorous sounding”), of Germanic origin and probably ultimately imitative. The r in the word was introduced by analogy to Middle English skrīke, skrīken, scrēmen, possibly to avoid confusion with non-Anglian forms of schelle (modern English shell) where Old English scill (“sonorous sounding”) and scill (“shell”) existed. The word is cognate with Icelandic skella (“crash, bang, slam”), Low German schrell (“sharp in taste or tone”).

This word in other languages

estridente(Español)strident(Français)schrill(Deutsch)estridente(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hsrill
  • shhrill
  • shirll
  • shril
  • shrlil
  • shrrill
  • srhill
  • sshrill

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of shrill - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

hsrill2shhrill1shirll2shril1shrlil2shrrill1srhill2sshrill1
Edit distance from "shrill"

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 "shrill"?
"shrill" is spelled S-H-R-I-L-L. The IPA pronunciation is /ʃɹɪl/.
What does "shrill" mean?
As an adjective, "shrill" means: High-pitched and piercing.
What words are commonly confused with "shrill"?
"shrill" is commonly confused with "sill", "still", "skill". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "shrill"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "shrill" is /ʃɹɪl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "shrill"?
From Late Middle English schrille, shirle, shrille (“of a sound: high-pitched, piercing; producing such a sound”), possibly from the earlier shil, schille (“loud, resounding; high-pitched”), from Old English scill (“sonorous sounding”), of Germani... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "shrill", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

shaven#33,843snowed#33,853seared#33,840strode#33,861

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

soulless8 variantsstork8 variantssalami8 variantsReiner8 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list