shark

/ʃɑːk/

//ʃɑːk// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"shark" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“shark” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #6,098. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#6,098
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any predatory fish of the superorder Selachimorpha, with a cartilaginous skeleton and 5 to 7 gill slits on each side of its head.

Corpus desk

Index EN-shark · shark · English

shark · rank #6,098 · 8 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #6,098
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH severely

Nearest frequency peer: severely (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “shark”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “shark” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

shark vs star
60% similar
shark vs shaw
60% similar
shark vs soak
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for shark
PropertyValue
Headwordshark
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ʃɑːk/
Letters5
Frequency rank#6,098
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “shark”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).sharklands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “severely” (#6,097), “shocking” (#6,099), “senators” (#6,096). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “shark” is #6,098. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around shark (IPA /ʃɑːk/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #6,098 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 10 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for shark, with forms such as "hsark", "sahrk", and "shakr". 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, "star", "shaw", "soak", 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 shark (used by Thomas Beckington in 1442 to refer to a kind of fish), of uncertain origin. Most likely from a semantic extension of the German-derived shark (“scoundrel”), see below. The fish was originally called a dogfish or haye in En… The correct English form is shark, spelled S-H-A-R-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any predatory fish of the superorder Selachimorpha, with a cartilaginous skeleton and 5 to 7 gill slits on each side of its head.
  2. 2
    Flesh of this animal, consumed as food.
  3. 3
    Any fish of the class Chondrichthyes, especially an extinct shark-like holocephalian.
  4. 4
    A freshwater fish that resembles a true shark (Selachimorpha) in appearance or movement; a freshwater shark.
  5. 5
    A freshwater fish that resembles a true shark (Selachimorpha) in appearance or movement; a freshwater shark.
  6. 6
    A freshwater fish that resembles a true shark (Selachimorpha) in appearance or movement; a freshwater shark.
  7. 7
    A freshwater fish that resembles a true shark (Selachimorpha) in appearance or movement; a freshwater shark.
  8. 8
    A freshwater fish that resembles a true shark (Selachimorpha) in appearance or movement; a freshwater shark.
  9. 9
    A noctuid moth of species Cucullia umbratica.
  10. 10
    A university student who is not a fresher that has engaged in sexual activity with a fresher; usually habitually and with multiple people.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how shark appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The straunge fishe is in length xvij. foote and iij. foote broad, and in compas about the bodie vj. foote; and is round snowted, short headdid, hauing iij. rankes of teeth on either iawe, …. Also it hath v. gills of eache side of the head, shoing white. Ther is no proper name for it that I know, but that sertayne men of Captayne Haukinses doth call it a s…
  2. He said he had spoken to a woman who was kayaking off Catalina Island, California, in 2008 when a shark slammed her kayak from underneath and sent her flying into the air. She then landed on the back of the shark, Collier said. "At that point the shark started to swim out to sea, so she jumped off its back," Collier said.

Etymology

From Middle English shark (used by Thomas Beckington in 1442 to refer to a kind of fish), of uncertain origin. Most likely from a semantic extension of the German-derived shark (“scoundrel”), see below. The fish was originally called a dogfish or haye in English and Middle English. Its name in Old English is unknown, although some uses of the word hranfisċ that do not appear to carry the sense of "whale" may have been referencing it. alternative theories Some older dictionaries derived the word from Latin c(h)archarias, c(h)acharus (from Ancient Greek), but admit that "the requisite [Old French] forms intermediate between E. shark and L. carcharus are not found, and it is not certain that the name [shark] was orig. applied to the fish; it may have been first used of a greedy man". Other older authorities speculated that the word might derive from Yucatec Maya xok (“fish”) (/ʃok/), as John Hawkins brought a specimen from the area where Mayan was spoken to England in the 1560s. However, the 1442 use rules out a New World origin for the word.

Synonyms

haye

This word in other languages

tiburón(Español)requin(Français)Hai(Deutsch)tubarão(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hsark
  • sahrk
  • shakr
  • sharkk
  • sharrk
  • shhark
  • shrak
  • sshark

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of shark - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

hsark2sahrk2shakr2sharkk1sharrk1shhark1shrak2sshark1
Edit distance from "shark"

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 "shark"?
"shark" is spelled S-H-A-R-K. The IPA pronunciation is /ʃɑːk/.
What does "shark" mean?
As a noun, "shark" means: Any predatory fish of the superorder Selachimorpha, with a cartilaginous skeleton and 5 to 7 gill slits on each side of its head.
What words are commonly confused with "shark"?
"shark" is commonly confused with "star", "shaw", "soak". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "shark"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "shark" is /ʃɑːk/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "shark"?
From Middle English shark (used by Thomas Beckington in 1442 to refer to a kind of fish), of uncertain origin. Most likely from a semantic extension of the German-derived shark (“scoundrel”), see below. The fish was originally called a dogfish or ... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "shark", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

tales#6,104ralph#6,090polls#6,081outta#6,079

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

titled8 variantsadvise8 variantsDakota8 variantsflags8 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list