fixedvsshowsTell them apart

Which to use

“fixed” and “shows” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#46,645
“fixed” frequency rank
#8,130
“shows” frequency rank
54775
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fixed shows
Definition Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs fix 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs show

Letter map: fixed vs shows

Shared letters muted; letters that set fixed and shows apart highlighted. No shared letter run. fixed (CVCVC) and shows (CCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
fixed
5 ch
shows

Pair insight - fixed / shows

fixed and shows are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 5 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54775, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fixed is recorded at frequency rank #46,645, classified as averb, 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 54775, this pair ranks #1,005,541 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fixed vs shows

Shared letters: none. Private to "fixed": defix. Private to "shows": hosw.

"fixed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "shows" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fixed ← ffixed · fiexd · fixde · fixedd · fixxed · fxied · ifxed
  • shows ← hsows · shhows · shosw · showss · showws · shwos · sohws · sshows

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fixed" and "shows" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 5 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "fixed" vs "shows" - which ranks higher?
"shows" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,130 in our German list, against #46,645 for "fixed". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "fixed" vs "shows" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fixed" 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 #1,005,541 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fixed" and "shows" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fixed 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 #1,005,541 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