shape
/ʃeɪp/
"shape" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shape” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,967. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #1,967
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The status or condition of something
Corpus desk
Index EN-shape · shape · English
shape · rank #1,967 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,967
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH session
Nearest frequency peer: session (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “shape”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- regional
regional
98,037 corpus weight
- Scott
Scott
98,036 corpus weight
- session
session
98,035 corpus weight
- shape
shape
98,034 corpus weight
- sky
sky
98,033 corpus weight
- teaching
teaching
98,032 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “shape” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | shape |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ʃeɪp/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #1,967 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “shape” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around shape (IPA /ʃeɪp/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,967 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 10 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for shape, with forms such as "hsape", "sahpe", and "shaep". 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", "ship", "shop", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English shap, schape, from Old English ġesceap (“shape, form, created being, creature, creation, dispensation, fate, condition, sex, gender, genitalia”), from Proto-West Germanic *ga- + *skap, from Proto-Germanic *ga- + *skapą (“shape, nature, c… The correct English form is shape, spelled S-H-A-P-E.
Definition
- 1The status or condition of something
- 2Condition of personal health, especially muscular health.
- 3A graphical representation of an object's form or its external boundary, outline, or external surface.
- 4Form; formation.
- 5A geometric figure defined by its surfaces, lines, and angles, existing in 2D or 3D
- 6A rolled or hammered piece, such as a bar, beam, angle iron, etc., having a cross section different from merchant bar.
- 7A piece which has been roughly forged nearly to the form it will receive when completely forged or fitted.
- 8A mould for making blancmange, jelly, etc., or a piece of such food formed moulded into a particular shape.
- 9A loaded die.
- 10In the Hack programming language, a group of data fields each of which has a name and a data type.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how shape appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The used bookshop wouldn’t offer much due to the poor shape of the book.
The vet checked to see what kind of shape the animal was in.
Etymology
From Middle English shap, schape, from Old English ġesceap (“shape, form, created being, creature, creation, dispensation, fate, condition, sex, gender, genitalia”), from Proto-West Germanic *ga- + *skap, from Proto-Germanic *ga- + *skapą (“shape, nature, condition”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kep- (“to split, cut”). The verb is from Middle English shapen, schapen, from Old English scieppan (“to shape, form, make, create, assign, arrange, destine, order, adjudge”), from Proto-West Germanic *skappjan, from Proto-Germanic *skapjaną (“to create”), from the noun. The noun is cognate with Middle Dutch schap (“form”), Middle High German geschaf (“creature”), Icelandic skap (“state, condition, temper, mood”). The verb is cognate with Dutch scheppen, German schaffen, Swedish skapa (“create, make”), Norwegian Bokmål skape (“create”). Doublet of -ship.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- hsape
- sahpe
- shaep
- shappe
- shhape
- shpae
- sshape
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of shape - 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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "shape", 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).
What to do next
You've looked up "shape". Here's where to go from here.
- "shape" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "she". View pair
- 7 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #1,967 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "S" letter cohort. S–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.