square
/skwɛə/
"square" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“square” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,541 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,541
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 19
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A polygon with four straight sides of equal length and four right angles; an equilateral rectangle; a regular quadrilateral.
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 | square |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /skwɛə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #1,541 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 19 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “square” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for square is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /skwɛə/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,541 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 27 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for square, with forms such as "qsuare", "sqaure", and "sqquare". 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 19 confusable-pair relationships, "sure", "stare", "squat", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English square, sqware, squyre; from Old French esquarre, esquerre, (modern French équerre), from Vulgar Latin *exquadra, from Latin ex- + quadro, from quadrus (compare English quad and quadra). Doublet of squad and squadra. Displaced Old Englis… The correct English form is square, spelled S-Q-U-A-R-E.
Definition
- 1A polygon with four straight sides of equal length and four right angles; an equilateral rectangle; a regular quadrilateral.
- 2Something characterized by a square, or nearly square, form.
- 3Something characterized by a square, or nearly square, form.
- 4Something characterized by a square, or nearly square, form.
- 5Something characterized by a square, or nearly square, form.
- 6Something characterized by a square, or nearly square, form.
- 7An L- or T-shaped tool used to place objects or draw lines at right angles.
- 8An L- or T-shaped tool used to place objects or draw lines at right angles.
- 9An open space or park, often in the center of a town, not necessarily square in shape, often containing trees, seating and other features pleasing to the eye.
- 10An open space or park, often in the center of a town, not necessarily square in shape, often containing trees, seating and other features pleasing to the eye.
- 11The product of a number or quantity multiplied by itself; the second power of a number, value, term or expression.
- 12A pattern to be matched that consists of a subpattern repeated, such as "papa" or "wikiwiki".
- 13A body of troops drawn up in a square formation.
- 14A socially conventional or conservative person; a person who has little or no interest in the latest fads or trends.
- 15The symbol # on a telephone; hash.
- 16The central area of a cricket field, with one or more pitches of which only one is used at a time.
- 17A unit of measurement of area, equal to a 10 foot by 10 foot square, i.e. 100 square feet or roughly 9.3 square metres. Used in real estate for the size of a house or its rooms, though progressively being replaced by square metres in metric countries such as Australia.
- 18A unit used in measuring roof area equivalent to 100 square feet (9.29 m²) of roof area. The materials for roofing jobs are often billed by the square in the United States.
- 19A mortarboard.
- 20Ellipsis of square meal.
- 21Exact proportion; justness of workmanship and conduct; regularity; rule.
- 22The relation of harmony, or exact agreement; equality; level.
- 23The position of planets distant ninety degrees from each other; a quadrate.
- 24The act of squaring, or quarrelling; a quarrel.
- 25Cigarette.
- 26A vat used for fermentation.
- 27A well-defined torso.
Etymology
From Middle English square, sqware, squyre; from Old French esquarre, esquerre, (modern French équerre), from Vulgar Latin *exquadra, from Latin ex- + quadro, from quadrus (compare English quad and quadra). Doublet of squad and squadra. Displaced Old English fēowerecge (fēower nominative + ecg accusative, as in "four-edged").
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: qsuare,sqaure,sqquare,squaer,squarre,squrae,ssquare,suqare
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of square - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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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Using “square”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-Q-U-A-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /skwɛə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “sure” - see the side-by-side comparison. square vs sure
- 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.