Which to use
“shop” is a noun and “shown” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,408
- “shop” frequency rank
- #1,354
- “shown” frequency rank
- 2762
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shop | shown |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An establishment that sells goods or services to the public; originally only a physical location, but now a virtual establishment as well. | past participle of show |
Where the eye mixes shop and shown
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: shop is /ʃɒp/ while shown is /ʃəʊn/. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2762, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shop is recorded at frequency rank #1,408, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃɒp/. shown is at rank #1,354, tagged as averb, pronounced /ʃəʊn/.
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 2762, this pair ranks #524,115 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of shop vs shown
Shared letters: hos. Private to "shop": p. Private to "shown": nw.
"shop" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "shown" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC