Which to use
“shutter” and “shuttle” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,507
- “shutter” frequency rank
- #8,349
- “shuttle” frequency rank
- 23856
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shutter | shuttle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | One who shuts or closes something. | A tool used to carry the woof back and forth between the warp threads on a loom. |
Where the eye mixes shutter and shuttle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses shutter with shuttle
A purely visual mix-up. shutter (/ˈʃʌt.ə/) and shuttle (/ˈʃʌtəl/) 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 23856, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shutter is recorded at frequency rank #15,507, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃʌt.ə/. shuttle is at rank #8,349, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃʌtəl/.
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 23856, this pair ranks #406,221 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of shutter vs shuttle
Shared letters: ehstu. Private to "shutter": r. Private to "shuttle": l.
"shutter" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "shuttle" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "shutter" for "shuttle" ever safe?
Frequency check: "shutter" vs "shuttle" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "shutter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shuttle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #406,221 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shutter" and "shuttle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Shatner vs shutter". 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 #406,221 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.