shape
/ˈʃeɪ̯p/noun, verb
shape is spelled S-H-A-P-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 52 times per million words in written English, the 1,941st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, shape means “The status or condition of something” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of shape is shapes.
How many letters and syllables are in shape?
| Letters | 5: S-H-A-P-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 52 times per million words; the 1,941st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is shape?
Shape appears 52 times per million words in written English, the 1,941st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce shape?
- /ˈʃeɪ̯p/
- [ˈʃeɪ̯p]
Shape has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-shape.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with shape
Also written: in any shape or form, in any way, shape or form, in no way, shape or form.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with shape?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as shape.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: phase, heaps.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of shape
- shapes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- shaping participle, present
- shaped past, participle, singular, he/she/it, plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does shape mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The status or condition of something
The used bookshop wouldn’t offer much due to the poor shape of the book.
- 2
Condition of personal health, especially muscular health.
The vet checked to see what kind of shape the animal was in.
- 3
A graphical representation of an object's form or its external boundary, outline, or external surface.
What shape shall we use for the cookies? Stars, circles, or diamonds?
- 4
Form; formation.
Your head is a funny shape, rather oblong.
- 5
A geometric figure defined by its surfaces, lines, and angles, existing in 2D or 3D
- 6
A rolled or hammered piece, such as a bar, beam, angle iron, etc., having a cross section different from merchant bar.
- 7
A piece which has been roughly forged nearly to the form it will receive when completely forged or fitted.
- 8
archaicA mould for making blancmange, jelly, etc., or a piece of such food formed moulded into a particular shape.
verb
- 1
ScotlandrareTo create or make.
Earth was shapen by God for God's folk.
- 2
To give something a shape and definition.
Shape the dough into a pretzel. For my art project, I plan to shape my clay lump into a bowl.
- 3
To form or manipulate something into a certain shape.
- 4
To give influence to.
- 5
To suit; to be adjusted or conformable.
- 6
obsoleteTo imagine; to conceive.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Shape in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | forme , donner une forme, former |
| German | Zustand, Form , formen , Gestalt |
| Portuguese | condição, estado , modelar , forma |
| Spanish | forma, estado , figura, talle |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does shape come from?
From Middle English schap, 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”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).