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PlainSpell

shade

/ʃeɪd/noun, verb

shade is spelled S-H-A-D-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,496th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, shade means “Darkness where light, particularly sunlight, is blocked” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of shade is shades.

How many letters and syllables are in shade?

Letters5: S-H-A-D-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing14 times per million words; the 5,496th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is shade?

Shade appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,496th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce shade?

  • /ʃeɪd/

Shade has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-shade.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with shade?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as shade.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: heads.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of shade

  • shades plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • shading participle, present
  • shaded participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does shade mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    Darkness where light, particularly sunlight, is blocked.

    The old oak tree gave shade in the heat of the day.

  2. 2

    Something that blocks light, particularly in a window.

    Close the shade, please: it's too bright in here.

  3. 3

    A variety of a color, in particular one obtained by adding black (compare tint).

    I've painted my room in five lovely shades of pink and chartreuse.

  4. 4

    A subtle variation in a concept.

    shades of meaning

  5. 5

    An aspect that is reminiscent of something.

    shades of Groucho Marx

  6. 6

    A very small degree of a quantity, or variety of meaning

    That is a shade too close.

  7. 7

    A ghost or specter; a spirit.

    Too long have I been haunted by that shade.

  8. 8

    A postage stamp showing an obvious difference in colour/color to the original printing and needing a separate catalogue/catalog entry.

verb

  1. 1

    To shield (someone or something) from light.

    The old oak tree shaded the lawn in the heat of the day.

  2. 2

    rareTo shield oneself from light.

    We shaded under a huge oak tree.

  3. 3

    To alter slightly.

    You'll need to shade your shot slightly to the left.

  4. 4

    To vary or approach something slightly, particularly in color.

    The hillside was bright green, shading towards gold in the drier areas.

  5. 5

    To move slightly from one's normal fielding position.

    Jones will shade a little to the right on this pitch count.

  6. 6

    To darken, particularly in drawing.

    I draw contours first, gradually shading in midtones and shadows.

  7. 7

    To win by a narrow margin.

    Both parties claimed afterwards that their man did best in the debate, but an early opinion poll suggested Mr Cameron shaded it.

  8. 8

    To reduce (a window) so that only its title bar is visible.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Shade in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchombre (darkness where light is blocked), store (something that blocks light, particularly in a…), nuance, ton (variety of color), esprit (ghost – see also ghost), ombrager (to shield from light)
GermanSchatten (darkness where light is blocked), Vorhang (something that blocks light, particularly in a…), Farbton (variety of color), schattieren (to darken or to lightly colour)
Portuguesesombra (darkness where light is blocked), cortina (something that blocks light, particularly in a…), matiz, nuança, tom, tonalidade (variety of color)
Spanishsombra (darkness where light is blocked), persiana (something that blocks light, particularly in a…), umbral, tono, matiz (variety of color), rajadura (subtle insult)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does shade come from?

Inherited from Middle English schade, from Old English sċeadu, from Proto-West Germanic *skadu, from Proto-Germanic *skaduz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱh₃tús, from *(s)ḱeh₃-. Doublet of shadow. Cognate with Ancient Greek σκότος (skótos) (whence English scoto-) and σκιά (skiá) (whence English scia-, and uncertainly via σκίουρος (skíouros) English squirrel).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after shade