Shane
/ʃeɪn/
"shane" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Shane” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,741 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #7,741
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A male given name from Irish.
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) |
Where “Shane” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Shane is 5 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ʃeɪn/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,741 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
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].
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"?
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Using “Shane”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-H-A-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ʃeɪn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “she” - see the side-by-side comparison. Shane vs she
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.