score

The word “score” means the total number of points, goals, or runs earned in a game or contest. In plain terms, most often the number of points in a game or test, but also the sheet music for a film/show, or slang for successfully getting hold of something.

“Score” is pronounced skaw (/skoɹ/ in IPA).

Here is “score” used in a sentence: “The final score was 3 to 1 in favour of the home team.”

Words with a similar meaning to “score” include earn and obtain.

Depending on how it is used, “score” can be a noun and a verb.

The word “score” comes from Old English. From Old English scoru, borrowed from Old Norse skor, "a notch or tally," related to the idea of cutting a mark for every twenty animals passing through a gate — hence the old meaning "twenty.".

“Score” is a very common word in modern English, usually learned at around the B1 level.

“Score” has 5 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: the total number of points, goals, or runs earned in a game or contest.

A score is the number of points, goals, or runs earned, such as 3–1. A result is the outcome it produces — who won, lost, or drew. The score gives the exact figures; the result is the conclusion drawn from them. A 3–1 score, for instance, gives one team the winning result.

Yes, in an older use a score means twenty. It survives in phrases like 'three score and ten' for seventy, and famously in Abraham Lincoln's 'four score and seven years ago,' meaning eighty-seven. This counting sense is now old-fashioned, but the number meaning of score still appears in formal or literary language.

Beyond points in a game, score can mean the written music for a song, film, or play — a musical score. As a verb it can mean to make a mark or cut, as in scoring a line in card. It also appears in 'settle a score,' meaning to get even.