showsvstimesConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#8,130
“shows” frequency rank
#5,431
“times” frequency rank
13561
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shows times
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs show Plural des Substantivs time

Letter map: shows vs times

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

5 ch
shows
5 ch
times

Grammar separator: shows vs times

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: shows is averb and timesanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13561, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

shows is recorded at frequency rank #8,130, classified as averb, pronounced […]. times is at rank #5,431, tagged as anoun, 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 13561, this pair ranks #1,957,198 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of shows vs times

Shared letters: s. Private to "shows": how. Private to "times": eimt.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • shows ← hsows · shhows · shosw · showss · showws · shwos · sohws · sshows
  • times ← itmes · tiems · timess · timmes · timse · tmies · ttimes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "shows" for "times" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "shows" is a verb and "times" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "shows" or "times" show up more?
"times" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,431 in our German list, against #8,130 for "shows". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "shows" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "times" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,957,198 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "shows" and "times" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs shows". 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 #1,957,198 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