Which to use
“showed” is a verb and “shows” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,468
- “showed” frequency rank
- #597
- “shows” frequency rank
- 2065
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | showed | shows |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past of show | plural of show |
Where the eye mixes showed and shows
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: showed is /ˈʃəʊd/ while shows is /ʃəʊz/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2065, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
showed is recorded at frequency rank #1,468, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈʃəʊd/. shows is at rank #597, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ʃəʊz/.
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 2065, this pair ranks #525,945 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of showed vs shows
Shared letters: hosw. Private to "showed": de. Private to "shows": -.
"showed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "shows" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC