skull
/ˈskʌl/noun, verb
skull is spelled S-K-U-L-L: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,138th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “scull vs skull” about 70 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, skull means “The main bones of the head considered as a unit; including the cranium, facial bones, and mandible” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of skull is skulls.
How many letters and syllables are in skull?
| Letters | 5: S-K-U-L-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 12 times per million words; the 6,138th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like |
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).
How common is skull?
Skull appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,138th 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 skull?
- /ˈskʌl/
- /skʊl/
Skull 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-skull.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with skull
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: scull (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of skull
- skulls plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- scull
- skulling participle, present
- skulled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does skull mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The main bones of the head considered as a unit; including the cranium, facial bones, and mandible.
- 2
These bones as a symbol for death; death's-head.
- 3
The mind or brain.
- 4
A crust formed on the ladle, etc. by the partial cooling of molten metal.
- 5
The crown of the headpiece in armour.
- 6
ScotlandA shallow bow-handled basket.
- 7
UKobsoleteslangThe head or master of a college.
verb
- 1
To hit in the head with a fist, a weapon, or a thrown object.
- 2
To strike the top of (the ball).
- 3
To drink everything that remains in a glass by upending it.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Skull in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | crâne |
| German | Schädel, Kranium , Totenkopf |
| Portuguese | crânio, caveira , cabeça |
| Spanish | cráneo, calavera, calaca |
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 skull come from?
From Middle English sculle, scolle (also schulle, scholle), probably from a dialectal form of Old Norse skalli (“bald head, skull”), itself probably related to Old English sċealu (“husk”), to Proto-Norse *ᛋᚲᚨᛚᛟ (*skalo), from Proto-Germanic *skallô; compare Finnish kallo. Compare Scots scull, Danish skal (“skull”) and skalle (“bald head, skull”), Norwegian skalle, Swedish skalle and especially dialectal Swedish skulle.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).