shoutingvsshowingWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: shouting is a noun, showing is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“shouting” is a noun and “showing” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,501
“shouting” frequency rank
#1,409
“showing” frequency rank
8910
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shouting showing
Definition An instance of loud or highly audible acclamation, clamor, crying or uproar. present participle and gerund of show

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set shouting and showing apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
shouting
7 ch
showing

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

shouting and showing 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 8910, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

shouting is recorded at frequency rank #7,501, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃaʊtɪŋ/. showing is at rank #1,409, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈʃəʊɪŋ/.

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 8910, this pair ranks #500,072 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

shouting#7,501
showing#1,409

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "shouting" and "showing" be used interchangeably?
No, "shouting" and "showing" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering shouting vs showing

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “shouting”; for a verb, it's “showing”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “shouting” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list