shape
/ʃeɪp/
"shape" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shape” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,967 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,967
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The status or condition of something
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
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for shape is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ʃeɪp/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,967 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 10 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 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.
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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Using “shape”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-H-A-P-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ʃeɪp/ (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. shape 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.