# share

> English word · Noun · IPA /ʃɛə/ · frequency rank #642

## Definitions
1. A portion of something, especially a portion given or allotted to someone.
2. A financial instrument that shows that one owns a part of a company that provides the benefit of limited liability.
3. A configuration enabling a resource to be shared over a network.
4. The action of sharing something with other people via social media.
5. The sharebone or pubis.

## Etymology
From Middle English schare, schere, from Old English sċearu (“a cutting, shaving, a shearing, tonsure, part, division, share”), from Proto-West Germanic *skaru, from Proto-Germanic *skarō (“a division, detachment”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut, divide”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian skar, sker (“a share in a communal pasture”), Dutch schare (“share in property”), German Schar (“band, troop, party, company”), Icelandic skor (“department”). Compare shard, shear. Doublet of eschel.

## Easily confused with
- **she** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-she)
- **sure** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-sure)
- **star** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-star)
- **shoe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-shoe)
- **shaw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-shaw)
- **sore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-sore)
- **Shri** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-shri)
- **sire** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-sire)
- **soar** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-soar)
- **shay** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-shay)
- **spar** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-spar)
- **shat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-shat)
- **state** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-state)
- **start** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-start)
- **short** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-short)
- **space** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-space)
- **stage** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-stage)
- **store** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-store)
- **stars** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-stars)
- **smart** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/share-vs-smart)

## Common misspellings (7)
`hsare`, `sahre`, `shaer`, `sharre`, `shhare`, `shrae`, `sshare`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/share