Which to use
“shows” and “stops” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #597
- “shows” frequency rank
- #3,657
- “stops” frequency rank
- 4254
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shows | stops |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of show | plural of stop |
Where the eye mixes shows and stops
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses shows with stops
A purely visual mix-up. shows (/ʃəʊz/) and stops (/stɒps/) 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 4254, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shows is recorded at frequency rank #597, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃəʊz/. stops is at rank #3,657, tagged as anoun, pronounced /stɒps/.
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 4254, this pair ranks #519,509 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of shows vs stops
Shared letters: os. Private to "shows": hw. Private to "stops": pt.
"shows" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "stops" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "shows" and "stops" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "shows" or "stops"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "shows" and "stops" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "shows" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stops" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #519,509 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shows" and "stops" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "staph vs stops". 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 #519,509 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.