shah

Name: shah, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

/ʃɑː/

//ʃɑː// noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed September 3, 2026

The verdict

“shah” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #9,535. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#9,535
frequency rank, English: 6,566
“S” headwords: 6
tracked misspellings: 20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A king of Persia or Iran.

Corpus desk

Index EN-shah · shah · English

shah · rank #9,535 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

FREQ-COMMON #9,535
LEN-MID 4 letters
VOW-1 1 vowel
CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
VAR-MID 6 variants
BOOK-DENSE 6,566
PHOTO-FINISH Shawn

Nearest frequency peer: Shawn (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

rotten

90,470
sands

90,469
shah

90,466
Shawn

90,465
shotgun

90,464
singers

90,463

What this shows “shah” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

shah vs she

50% similar

shah vs shy

50% similar

shah vs spa

50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for shah
Property	Value
Headword	shah
Language	English
Part of speech	Noun
IPA	/ʃɑː/
Letters	4
Frequency rank	#9,535
Misspellings tracked	6
Confusable pairs	20
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “shah”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).shahlands here:

#9,535

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “Shawn” (#9,536), “shotgun” (#9,537), “sands” (#9,532). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “shah” is #9,535. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around shah (IPA /ʃɑː/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #9,535 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for shah, with forms such as "hsah", "sahh", and "shahh". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "she", "shy", "spa", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Persian شاه (šâh), from Middle Persian 𐭬𐭫𐭪𐭠 (šāh), from Old Persian 𐏋 (XŠ /⁠xšāyaθiya⁠/). Doublet of check. More at chess. The correct English form is shah, spelled S-H-A-H.

Definition

1
A king of Persia or Iran.
2
A supreme ruler in some West Asian, Central Asian or South Asian nations.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how shah appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

We had a cordial welcome in Tehran from the shah and Empress Farah, a delightful banquet, and adequate time to discuss the Middle East and nuclear power affairs with the shah.

Etymology

From Persian شاه (šâh), from Middle Persian 𐭬𐭫𐭪𐭠 (šāh), from Old Persian 𐏋 (XŠ /⁠xšāyaθiya⁠/). Doublet of check. More at chess.

This word in other languages

sah(Español)shah(Français)Schah(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

hsah
sahh
shahh
shha
shhah
sshah

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of shah - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

Edit distance from "shah"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "shah"?

"shah" is spelled S-H-A-H. The IPA pronunciation is /ʃɑː/.

What does "shah" mean?

As a noun, "shah" means: A king of Persia or Iran.

What words are commonly confused with "shah"?

"shah" is commonly confused with "she", "shy", "spa". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.

How do you pronounce "shah"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "shah" is /ʃɑː/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.

What is the origin of the word "shah"?

From Persian شاه (šâh), from Middle Persian 𐭬𐭫𐭪𐭠 (šāh), from Old Persian 𐏋 (XŠ /⁠xšāyaθiya⁠/). Doublet of check. More at chess. See the full etymology section above for more details.

Is PlainSpell free to use?

Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "shah", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

sofa#9,540 pony#9,509 nets#9,504 Nate#9,503

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

logs6 variants cans6 variants intro6 variants crow6 variants