shallows

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"shallows" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“shallows” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #45,081. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#45,081
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An area in a large body of water with many shallow areas.

Corpus desk

Index EN-shallows · shallows · English

shallows · rank #45,081 · 11 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #45,081
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH Shaheen

Nearest frequency peer: Shaheen (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “shallows”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

shallows vs swallow
75% similar
shallows vs shadows
75% similar
shallows vs shallow
88% similar

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

Key facts for shallows
PropertyValue
Headwordshallows
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Frequency rank#45,081
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “shallows”

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).shallowslands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “Shaheen” (#45,080), “Shawshank” (#45,082), “serine” (#45,078). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “shallows” is #45,081. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around shallows, anoun. Corpus frequency is #45,081 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Dominant gloss: "An area in a large body of water with many shallow areas.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for shallows, with forms such as "hsallows", "sahllows", and "shallosw". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "swallow", "shadows", "shallow", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is shallows, spelled S-H-A-L-L-O-W-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    An area in a large body of water with many shallow areas.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. You'll have to navigate carefully through these shallows.

This word in other languages

Untiefe(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hsallows
  • sahllows
  • shallosw
  • shallowss
  • shallowws
  • shallwos
  • shalolws
  • shalows
  • shhallows
  • shlalows
  • sshallows

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of shallows - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

hsallows2sahllows2shallosw2shallowss1shallowws1shallwos2shalolws2shalows1
Edit distance from "shallows"

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 "shallows"?
"shallows" is spelled S-H-A-L-L-O-W-S.
What does "shallows" mean?
As a noun, "shallows" means: An area in a large body of water with many shallow areas.
What words are commonly confused with "shallows"?
"shallows" is commonly confused with "swallow", "shadows", "shallow". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "shallows" come from?
"shallows" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "shallows", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

seafront#45,073spreader#45,097rucksack#45,060rounders#45,059

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

Roseville11 variantsRicketts11 variantssurefire11 variantstrestle11 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list