shapedvssharedTell them apart

Which to use

“shaped” and “shared” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,784
“shaped” frequency rank
#2,128
“shared” frequency rank
5912
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shaped shared
Definition Having been given a shape, especially a curved shape. Used by multiple entities or for multiple purposes or in multiple ways.

Where the eye mixes shaped and shared

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
shaped
6 ch
shared

Look-alike desk: shaped vs shared

A purely visual mix-up. shaped (/ʃeɪpt/) and shared (/ʃɛːd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - p in “shaped” becomes r in “shared”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5912, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

shaped is recorded at frequency rank #3,784, classified as anadj, pronounced /ʃeɪpt/. shared is at rank #2,128, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ʃɛːd/.

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 5912, this pair ranks #513,531 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of shaped vs shared

Shared letters: adehs. Private to "shaped": p. Private to "shared": r.

"shaped" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "shared" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • shapedhsaped · sahped · shaepd · shapde · shapedd · shapped · shhaped · shpaed
  • sharedhsared · sahred · shaerd · sharde · sharedd · sharred · shhared · shraed

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "shaped" for "shared" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ʃeɪpt/ versus /ʃɛːd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "shaped" vs "shared" - which ranks higher?
"shared" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,128 in our English list, against #3,784 for "shaped". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "shaped" and "shared" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "shaped" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "shared" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #513,531 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "shaped" and "shared" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shaped vs shapely". 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 #513,531 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list