Which to use
“shards” and “share” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,281
- “shards” frequency rank
- #642
- “share” frequency rank
- 27923
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shards | share |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of shard | A portion of something, especially a portion given or allotted to someone. |
Where the eye mixes shards and share
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between shards and share
A purely visual mix-up. shards (/ʃɑɹdz/) and share (/ʃɛə/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27923, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shards is recorded at frequency rank #27,281, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃɑɹdz/. share is at rank #642, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ʃɛə/.
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 27923, this pair ranks #375,044 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of shards vs share
Shared letters: ahrs. Private to "shards": d. Private to "share": e.
"shards" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC · "share" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "shards" for "share" ever safe?
Frequency check: "shards" vs "share" - 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 "shards" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "share" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #375,044 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shards" and "share" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shards vs sharps". 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 #375,044 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.