Which to use
“shaman” and “showman” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,932
- “shaman” frequency rank
- #38,616
- “showman” frequency rank
- 60548
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shaman | showman |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A traditional faith healer. | A person (usually a man) involved in putting on shows (of various types); especially, one who plays a central role in doing so. |
Letter map: shaman vs showman
Shared letters muted; letters that set shaman and showman apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Spelling & dictionary notes on shaman vs showman
shaman and showman are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60548, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shaman is recorded at frequency rank #21,932, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃɑːmən/. showman is at rank #38,616, tagged as anoun.
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 60548, this pair ranks #99,580 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shaman vs showman
Shared letters: ahmns. Private to "shaman": -. Private to "showman": ow.
"shaman" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "showman" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "shaman" and "showman" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "shaman" or "showman" show up more?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "shaman" and "showman".
- Full dictionary entry for "shaman" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "showman" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #99,580 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shaman" and "showman" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shaman vs Shana". 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 #99,580 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.