# shady vs sham

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### shady
*adjective · IPA /ˈʃeɪdi/ · frequency rank #11,115*
Abounding in shades.

### sham
*adjective · IPA /ʃæm/ · frequency rank #16,126*
Intended to deceive; false.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shady-vs-sham