Which to use
“shown” is a verb and “shows” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,354
- “shown” frequency rank
- #597
- “shows” frequency rank
- 1951
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shown | shows |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of show | plural of show |
Where the eye mixes shown 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: shown is /ʃəʊn/ while shows is /ʃəʊz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “shown” becomes s in “shows”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1951, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shown is recorded at frequency rank #1,354, classified as averb, pronounced /ʃəʊn/. 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 1951, this pair ranks #526,220 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of shown vs shows
Shared letters: hosw. Private to "shown": n. Private to "shows": -.
"shown" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "shows" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC