Which to use
“shaken” and “spoken” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,059
- “shaken” frequency rank
- #3,336
- “spoken” frequency rank
- 16395
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shaken | spoken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Moved rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly. | Relating to speech. |
Where the eye mixes shaken and spoken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. shaken and spoken follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between shaken and spoken
A purely visual mix-up. shaken (/ˈʃeɪk(ə)n/) and spoken (/ˈspəʊ.k(ə)n/) 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 16395, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shaken is recorded at frequency rank #13,059, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈʃeɪk(ə)n/. spoken is at rank #3,336, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈspəʊ.k(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 16395, this pair ranks #457,994 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of shaken vs spoken
Shared letters: ekns. Private to "shaken": ah. Private to "spoken": op.
"shaken" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "spoken" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "shaken" and "spoken" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "shaken" vs "spoken" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "shaken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spoken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #457,994 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shaken" and "spoken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shaken vs Sharkey". 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 #457,994 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.