Which to use
“shoves” and “smokes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,915
- “shoves” frequency rank
- #16,132
- “smokes” frequency rank
- 60047
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shoves | smokes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of shove | plural of smoke |
Where the eye mixes shoves and smokes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. shoves and smokes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between shoves and smokes
A purely visual mix-up. shoves (/ʃʌvz/) and smokes (/sməʊks/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60047, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shoves is recorded at frequency rank #43,915, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃʌvz/. smokes is at rank #16,132, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sməʊks/.
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 60047, this pair ranks #102,512 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shoves vs smokes
Shared letters: eos. Private to "shoves": hv. Private to "smokes": km.
"shoves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "smokes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "shoves" and "smokes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "shoves" or "smokes"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "shoves" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "smokes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #102,512 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shoves" and "smokes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shoves vs stover". 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 #102,512 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.