Which to use
“shoddy” and “showy” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,638
- “shoddy” frequency rank
- #37,687
- “showy” frequency rank
- 65325
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shoddy | showy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Of poor quality or construction. | Calling attention; flashy; standing out to the eye. |
Where the eye mixes shoddy and showy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. shoddy runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against showy's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: shoddy vs showy
A purely visual mix-up. shoddy (/ˈʃɒd.i/) and showy (/ˈʃəʊ.i/) 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 65325, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shoddy is recorded at frequency rank #27,638, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈʃɒd.i/. showy is at rank #37,687, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈʃəʊ.i/.
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 65325, this pair ranks #73,326 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shoddy vs showy
Shared letters: hosy. Private to "shoddy": d. Private to "showy": w.
"shoddy" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "showy" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "shoddy" for "showy" ever safe?
Frequency check: "shoddy" vs "showy" - 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 "shoddy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "showy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #73,326 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shoddy" and "showy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Shona vs showy". 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 #73,326 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.