Which to use
“shader” is a noun and “shaken” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,901
- “shader” frequency rank
- #13,059
- “shaken” frequency rank
- 60960
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shader | shaken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | One who, or that which, shades. | Moved rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly. |
Where the eye mixes shader and shaken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. shader and shaken follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses shader with shaken
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: shader is /ˈʃeɪdɚ/ while shaken is /ˈʃeɪk(ə)n/. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60960, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shader is recorded at frequency rank #47,901, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃeɪdɚ/. shaken is at rank #13,059, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈʃeɪk(ə)n/.
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 60960, this pair ranks #97,159 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shader vs shaken
Shared letters: aehs. Private to "shader": dr. Private to "shaken": kn.
"shader" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "shaken" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "shader" for "shaken" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "shader" or "shaken" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "shader" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shaken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #97,159 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shader" and "shaken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Seager vs shader". 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 #97,159 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.