Which to use
“seamen” and “shaman” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,339
- “seamen” frequency rank
- #21,932
- “shaman” frequency rank
- 53271
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | seamen | shaman |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of seaman | A traditional faith healer. |
Where the eye mixes seamen and shaman
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. seamen (CVVCVC) and shaman (CCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: seamen vs shaman
A purely visual mix-up. seamen (/ˈsiːmɛn/) and shaman (/ˈʃɑːmən/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53271, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
seamen is recorded at frequency rank #31,339, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsiːmɛn/. shaman is at rank #21,932, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃɑːmən/.
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 53271, this pair ranks #150,333 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of seamen vs shaman
Shared letters: amns. Private to "seamen": e. Private to "shaman": h.
"seamen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "shaman" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "seamen" and "shaman" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "seamen" vs "shaman" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "seamen" and "shaman" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "seamen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shaman" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #150,333 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "seamen" and "shaman" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Seager vs seamen". 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 #150,333 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.