ShihvsShilohWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#30,967
“Shih” frequency rank
#33,018
“Shiloh” frequency rank
63985
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Shih Shiloh
Definition A surname from Mandarin of Chinese origin. A biblical city, the location of the Ark of the Covenant.

Where the eye mixes Shih and Shiloh

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Shih runs 4 letters (CCVC) against Shiloh's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Shih
6 ch
Shiloh

Visual trap between Shih and Shiloh

A purely visual mix-up. Shih (/ˌʌnˈʃiː/) and Shiloh (/ˈʃaɪloʊ/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63985, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Shih is recorded at frequency rank #30,967, classified as aname, pronounced /ˌʌnˈʃiː/. Shiloh is at rank #33,018, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈʃaɪloʊ/.

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 63985, this pair ranks #80,068 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Shih vs Shiloh

Shared letters: his. Private to "Shih": -. Private to "Shiloh": lo.

"Shih" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "Shiloh" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Shihhsih · shhi · shhih · shihh · sihh · sshih
  • Shilohhsiloh · shhiloh · shilho · shilloh · shilohh · shiolh · shlioh · sihloh

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Shih" and "Shiloh" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˌʌnˈʃiː/ versus /ˈʃaɪloʊ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "Shih" or "Shiloh" show up more?
"Shih" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,967 in our English list, against #33,018 for "Shiloh". 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 "Shih" and "Shiloh" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Shih" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Shiloh" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #80,068 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Shih" and "Shiloh" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Shih vs Sif". 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 #80,068 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