Which to use
“shove” and “strove” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,965
- “shove” frequency rank
- #43,398
- “strove” frequency rank
- 55363
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shove | strove |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To push, especially roughly or with force. | simple past of strive |
Where the eye mixes shove and strove
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. shove runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against strove's 6 (CCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses shove with strove
A purely visual mix-up. shove (/ʃʌv/) and strove (/ˈstɹɔʊv/) 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 55363, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shove is recorded at frequency rank #11,965, classified as averb, pronounced /ʃʌv/. strove is at rank #43,398, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈstɹɔʊv/.
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 55363, this pair ranks #134,179 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shove vs strove
Shared letters: eosv. Private to "shove": h. Private to "strove": rt.
"shove" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "strove" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "shove" for "strove" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "shove" or "strove" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "shove" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "strove" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #134,179 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shove" and "strove" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stover vs strove". 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 #134,179 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.