Shane
/ʃeɪn/
"shane" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Shane” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #7,741. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #7,741
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A male given name from Irish.
Corpus desk
Index EN-shane · Shane · English
Shane · rank #7,741 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #7,741
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH sensitivity
Nearest frequency peer: sensitivity (-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 “Shane”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- sanctions
sanctions
92,263 corpus weight
- secular
secular
92,262 corpus weight
- sensitivity
sensitivity
92,261 corpus weight
- Shane
Shane
92,260 corpus weight
- sigh
sigh
92,259 corpus weight
- sixteen
sixteen
92,258 corpus weight
What this shows “Shane” 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).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Shane |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ʃeɪn/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #7,741 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “Shane”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around Shane (IPA /ʃeɪn/), aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #7,741 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for Shane, with forms such as "hsane", "sahne", and "shaen". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "she", "shoe", "shaw", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Anglicized form of the Northern Irish pronunciation of Irish Seán, from Old French Jehan, from Latin Johannes, variant of Ioannes, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs), from Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (Yōḥānān, literally “God is gracious”). Doublet of John, Jack, Johan,… The correct English form is Shane, spelled S-H-A-N-E.
Definition
- 1A male given name from Irish.
- 2A female given name from Irish.
- 3A surname from Irish [in turn originating as a patronymic].
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how Shane appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Back in ancient Hollywood history, there was an extremely well-known movie titled Shane. It was a classic western in which the late Alan Ladd played the title role. The most famous scene is the last one in the film, when Shane is riding off into the sunset and the little kid is chasing after him yelling, "Shane, come back, Shane!"
Etymology
Anglicized form of the Northern Irish pronunciation of Irish Seán, from Old French Jehan, from Latin Johannes, variant of Ioannes, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs), from Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (Yōḥānān, literally “God is gracious”). Doublet of John, Jack, Johan, Johann, Johannes, Jean, Ian, Evan, Ivan, Sean, Shaun, and Giovanni as a male name. Doublet of Ivana, Jana, Jane, Janice, Janis, Jean, Jeanne, Jen, Joan, Joanna, Joanne, Johanna, Juana, Shavonne, Sian, Siobhan, Shaun, Shauna, and Sheena as a female name.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- hsane
- sahne
- shaen
- shanne
- shhane
- shnae
- sshane
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Shane - 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.
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 "Shane"?
What does "Shane" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Shane"?
How do you pronounce "Shane"?
What is the origin of the word "Shane"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Shane", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).