Which to use
“shake” and “shame” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,125
- “shake” frequency rank
- #43,491
- “shame” frequency rank
- 67616
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shake | shame |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | jemanden oder etwas schütteln | jemanden beschämen |
Letter map: shake vs shame
Shared letters muted; letters that set shake and shame apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. shake and shame follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Pair insight - shake / shame
shake and shame 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 differ by a single letter - k in “shake” becomes m in “shame”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67616, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shake is recorded at frequency rank #24,125, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃeɪk]. shame is at rank #43,491, 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 67616, this pair ranks #534,334 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of shake vs shame
Shared letters: aehs. Private to "shake": k. Private to "shame": m.
"shake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "shame" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "shake" and "shame" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "shake" vs "shame" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "shake" and "shame". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "shake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shame" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #534,334 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shake" and "shame" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs shame". 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 #534,334 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.