Which to use
“seamen” is a noun and “shamed” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,339
- “seamen” frequency rank
- #22,215
- “shamed” frequency rank
- 53554
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | seamen | shamed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of seaman | simple past and past participle of shame |
Where the eye mixes seamen and shamed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. seamen (CVVCVC) and shamed (CCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses seamen with shamed
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: seamen is /ˈsiːmɛn/ while shamed is /ʃeɪmd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53554, 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/. shamed is at rank #22,215, tagged as averb, pronounced /ʃeɪmd/.
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 53554, this pair ranks #148,013 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of seamen vs shamed
Shared letters: aems. Private to "seamen": n. Private to "shamed": dh.
"seamen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "shamed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "seamen" for "shamed" ever safe?
Which is more common, "seamen" or "shamed"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "seamen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shamed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #148,013 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "seamen" and "shamed" 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 #148,013 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.