Which to use
“ship” and “shire” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,254
- “ship” frequency rank
- #15,700
- “shire” frequency rank
- 16954
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ship | shire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A water-borne vessel generally larger than a boat. | An administrative area or district between about the 5th to the 11th century, subdivided into hundreds or wapentakes and jointly governed by an ealdorman and a sheriff; also, a present-day area corresponding to such a historical district; a county; especially (England), a county having a name ending in -shire. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ship and shire apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
ship and shire form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16954, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ship is recorded at frequency rank #1,254, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃɪp/. shire is at rank #15,700, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ʃaɪə/.
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 16954, this pair ranks #454,533 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ship" and "shire" be used interchangeably?
Remembering ship vs shire
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ship” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable