Which to use
“shrug” and “shrugs” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,696
- “shrug” frequency rank
- #28,366
- “shrugs” frequency rank
- 48062
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shrug | shrugs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A lifting of the shoulders to signal indifference or a casual lack of knowledge. | plural of shrug |
Where the eye mixes shrug and shrugs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. shrug runs 5 letters (CCCVC) against shrugs's 6 (CCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: shrug vs shrugs
A purely visual mix-up. shrug (/ʃɹʌɡ/) and shrugs (/ʃɹʌɡz/) 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 extra letter(s) - “shrug” sits inside “shrugs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48062, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shrug is recorded at frequency rank #19,696, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃɹʌɡ/. shrugs is at rank #28,366, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ʃɹʌɡz/.
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 48062, this pair ranks #196,652 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of shrug vs shrugs
Shared letters: ghrsu. Private to "shrug": -. Private to "shrugs": -.
"shrug" · 5 letters · shape CCCVC · "shrugs" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "shrug" and "shrugs" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "shrug" vs "shrugs" - which ranks higher?
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 "shrug" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shrugs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #196,652 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shrug" and "shrugs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shrew vs shrug". 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 #196,652 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.