Which to use
“shakes” and “shoves” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,139
- “shakes” frequency rank
- #43,915
- “shoves” frequency rank
- 56054
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shakes | shoves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of shake | plural of shove |
Where the eye mixes shakes and shoves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. shakes and shoves 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 shakes with shoves
A purely visual mix-up. shakes (/ʃeɪks/) and shoves (/ʃʌvz/) 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 56054, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shakes is recorded at frequency rank #12,139, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃeɪks/. shoves is at rank #43,915, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ʃʌvz/.
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 56054, this pair ranks #129,080 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shakes vs shoves
Shared letters: ehs. Private to "shakes": ak. Private to "shoves": ov.
"shakes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "shoves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "shakes" and "shoves" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "shakes" or "shoves"?
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 "shakes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shoves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #129,080 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shakes" and "shoves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shoves vs stover". 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 #129,080 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.