Which to use
“family” is a noun and “shining” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,759
- “family” frequency rank
- #49,252
- “shining” frequency rank
- 57011
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | family | shining |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Familie | Partizip Präsens (present participle) des Verbs shine |
Letter map: family vs shining
Shared letters muted; letters that set family and shining apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. family runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against shining's 7 (CCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - family and shining
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: family is anoun and shiningaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57011, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
family is recorded at frequency rank #7,759, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. shining is at rank #49,252, tagged as averb, pronounced […].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 57011, this pair ranks #917,987 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of family vs shining
Shared letters: i. Private to "family": aflmy. Private to "shining": ghns.
"family" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "shining" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "family" and "shining" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "family" vs "shining" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pair "family" vs "shining" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "family" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shining" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #917,987 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "family" and "shining" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs shining". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #917,987 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.