Which to use
“sham” is an adjective and “she” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,126
- “sham” frequency rank
- #64
- “she” frequency rank
- 16190
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sham | she |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Intended to deceive; false. | The female (typically) person or animal previously mentioned or implied. |
Where the eye mixes sham and she
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: sham vs she
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sham is /ʃæm/ while she is /ʃiː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16190, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sham is recorded at frequency rank #16,126, classified as anadj, pronounced /ʃæm/. she is at rank #64, tagged as apron, pronounced /ʃiː/.
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 16190, this pair ranks #459,328 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sham vs she
Shared letters: hs. Private to "sham": am. Private to "she": e.
"sham" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "she" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- sham ← hsam · sahm · shamm · shham · shma · ssham
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sham" and "she" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "sham" vs "she" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sham" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "she" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #459,328 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sham" and "she" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sham vs SNA". 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 #459,328 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.