Skillset or Skill Set? Which is correct in English?

Vocabulary / By

English is a complex language with compound words like playground. Compound words combine two words together to form one, and one word many believe is a compound word is skill set. How do you spell skill set? Is it skill set, or skillset?

The proper way to spell skill set is with a space in between. If you combine the words skill and set to make skillset, that is incorrect. A common misspelling of skill set is skillset due to how it sounds like a compound word. However, if you use skillset, it’s incorrect and will look very strange.

The rest of this article will cover what skill set means, and how to use it in a sentence.

What Skill Set Means

Skill set is a phrase referring to an individual’s abilities. This can be technical writing, programming, proofreading, or any skills that are valuable in a working environment. These skills can also fall under certain categories, like communication or research and organizing.

Also, skill set can refer to your overall career since your career comes with abilities. For example, you can say an athlete has many different skill sets due to their experience with physical labor. You can say the same about trainers and similar positions.

Skill set is the only correct spelling of the word. Contrary to popular belief, skill set is not a compound word and therefore needs a space. Also, it cannot be spelled with a hyphen like this: skill-set. The only correct spelling is the one with a space.

How To Use Skill Set In A Sentence

Now since you know the meaning of skill set, you can use it in a sentence. It is a noun phrase, and the word “skill” is an adjective in this case. Although overall it’s used as a phrase, “skill” is an adjective that modifies the word “set”. So, you should use skill set as a noun phrase.

Here are a few examples:

“Once I became an athlete, my skill set broadened.”

“Her skill set is impressive.”

“If you look at my about me section, you can view my skill set.”

“Ally’s skill set is impressive because she is an engineer.”

All of those sentences are ways you can use the phrase skill set. It can be placed anywhere in the sentence, so try to experiment with how you use it.

 

Conor
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