finchvsshowsConfusable pair

Quick tell: finch is a noun, shows is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“finch” is a noun and “shows” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,389
“finch” frequency rank
#8,130
“shows” frequency rank
55519
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature finch shows
Definition Fink 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs show

Letter map: finch vs shows

Shared letters muted; letters that set finch and shows apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. finch (CVCCC) and shows (CCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
finch
5 ch
shows

Grammar separator: finch vs shows

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: finch is anoun and showsaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 5 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55519, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

finch is recorded at frequency rank #47,389, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. shows is at rank #8,130, 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 55519, this pair ranks #976,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of finch vs shows

Shared letters: h. Private to "finch": cfin. Private to "shows": osw.

"finch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "shows" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • finch ← ffinch · ficnh · fincch · finchh · finhc · finnch · fnich · ifnch
  • shows ← hsows · shhows · shosw · showss · showws · shwos · sohws · sshows

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "finch" and "shows" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "finch" is a noun and "shows" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "finch" or "shows"?
"shows" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,130 in our German list, against #47,389 for "finch". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "finch" and "shows". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "finch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "shows" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #976,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "finch" and "shows" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "finch vs puzzles". 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 #976,418 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list