Which to use
“share” is a noun and “sure” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #642
- “share” frequency rank
- #202
- “sure” frequency rank
- 844
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | share | sure |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A portion of something, especially a portion given or allotted to someone. | Physically secure and certain, non-failing, reliable. |
Where the eye mixes share and sure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: share is /ʃɛə/ while sure is /ʃɔː(ɹ)/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 844, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
share is recorded at frequency rank #642, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃɛə/. sure is at rank #202, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ʃɔː(ɹ)/.
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 844, this pair ranks #528,659 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of share vs sure
Shared letters: ers. Private to "share": ah. Private to "sure": u.
"share" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "sure" · 4 letters · shape CVCV