shim
/ʃɪm/
"shim" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shim” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #40,020 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #40,020
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A wedge.
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 | shim |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ʃɪm/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #40,020 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “shim” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for shim is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ʃɪm/. Corpus data places it at rank #40,020 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for shim, with forms such as "hsim", "shhim", and "shimm". 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, "SI", "SM", "six", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unknown; from Kent. Originally a piece of iron attached to a plow; sense of “thin piece of wood” from 1723, sense of “thin piece of material used for alignment or support” from 1860. The correct English form is shim, spelled S-H-I-M.
Definition
- 1A wedge.
- 2A thin piece of material, sometimes tapered, used for alignment or support.
- 3A small library that transparently intercepts and modifies calls to an API, usually for compatibility purposes.
- 4A kind of shallowly cutting plow used in tillage to break the ground and clear it of weeds.
- 5A small metal device used to pick open a lock.
- 6A thin device inserted into a card reader by a criminal to facilitate fraud.
Etymology
Unknown; from Kent. Originally a piece of iron attached to a plow; sense of “thin piece of wood” from 1723, sense of “thin piece of material used for alignment or support” from 1860.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hsim,shhim,shimm,shmi,sihm,sshim
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of shim - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "shim"?
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Using “shim”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-H-I-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ʃɪm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “SI” - see the side-by-side comparison. shim vs SI
- 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.