Which to use
“shrug” is a noun and “shrunk” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,696
- “shrug” frequency rank
- #23,099
- “shrunk” frequency rank
- 42795
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shrug | shrunk |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A lifting of the shoulders to signal indifference or a casual lack of knowledge. | simple past and past participle of shrink |
Where the eye mixes shrug and shrunk
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. shrug runs 5 letters (CCCVC) against shrunk's 6 (CCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between shrug and shrunk
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: shrug is /ʃɹʌɡ/ while shrunk is /ʃɹʌŋk/. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42795, 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/. shrunk is at rank #23,099, tagged as averb, pronounced /ʃɹʌŋk/.
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 42795, this pair ranks #246,003 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of shrug vs shrunk
Shared letters: hrsu. Private to "shrug": g. Private to "shrunk": kn.
"shrug" · 5 letters · shape CCCVC · "shrunk" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "shrug" for "shrunk" ever safe?
Frequency check: "shrug" vs "shrunk" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
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 "shrunk" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #246,003 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shrug" and "shrunk" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Shauna vs shrunk". 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 #246,003 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.