Which to use
“shush” and “shuts” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,562
- “shush” frequency rank
- #15,273
- “shuts” frequency rank
- 54835
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shush | shuts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To be quiet; to keep quiet. | third-person singular simple present indicative of shut |
Where the eye mixes shush and shuts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. shush and shuts follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between shush and shuts
A purely visual mix-up. shush (/ʃʊʃ/) and shuts (/ʃʌts/) 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 54835, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shush is recorded at frequency rank #39,562, classified as averb, pronounced /ʃʊʃ/. shuts is at rank #15,273, tagged as averb, pronounced /ʃʌts/.
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 54835, this pair ranks #138,123 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of shush vs shuts
Shared letters: hsu. Private to "shush": -. Private to "shuts": t.
"shush" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "shuts" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "shush" for "shuts" ever safe?
Which is more common, "shush" or "shuts"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "shush" and "shuts" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "shush" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shuts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #138,123 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shush" and "shuts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Shashi vs shush". 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 #138,123 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.