shore

/ʃɔː/

//ʃɔː// noun

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

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

The verdict

“shore” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #4,122. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#4,122
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Land adjoining a non-flowing body of water, such as an ocean, lake or pond.

Corpus desk

Index EN-shore · shore · English

shore · rank #4,122 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,122
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH shake

Nearest frequency peer: shake (-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 “shore”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “shore” 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).

shore vs soe
60% similar
shore vs sor
60% similar
shore vs some
60% similar

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

Key facts for shore
PropertyValue
Headwordshore
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ʃɔː/
Letters5
Frequency rank#4,122
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “shore”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).shorelands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “shake” (#4,121), “spots” (#4,123), “satellite” (#4,120). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “shore” is #4,122. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around shore (IPA /ʃɔː/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #4,122 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for shore, with forms such as "hsore", "shhore", and "shoer". 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, "soe", "sor", "some", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English schore, from Old English *sċora (attested as sċor- in placenames), from Proto-Germanic *skurô (“rugged rock, cliff, high rocky shore”). Possibly related to Old English sċieran (“to cut”), which survives today as English shear. Cognate wi… The correct English form is shore, spelled S-H-O-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Land adjoining a non-flowing body of water, such as an ocean, lake or pond.
  2. 2
    Land, usually near a port.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. lake shore; bay shore; gulf shore; island shore; mainland shore; river shore; estuary shore; pond shore; sandy shore; rocky shore
  2. the fruitful shore of muddy Nile

Etymology

From Middle English schore, from Old English *sċora (attested as sċor- in placenames), from Proto-Germanic *skurô (“rugged rock, cliff, high rocky shore”). Possibly related to Old English sċieran (“to cut”), which survives today as English shear. Cognate with Middle Dutch scorre (“land washed by the sea”), Middle Low German schor (“shore, coast, headland”), Middle High German schorre ("rocky crag, high rocky shore"; > German Schorre, Schorren (“towering rock, crag”)), and Limburgish sjaor (“riverbank”). Maybe connected with Norwegian Bokmål skjær.

This word in other languages

costa(Español)bord(Français)Ufer(Deutsch)praia(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hsore
  • shhore
  • shoer
  • shorre
  • shroe
  • sohre
  • sshore

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of shore - 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.

hsore2shhore1shoer2shorre1shroe2sohre2sshore1
Edit distance from "shore"

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 "shore"?
"shore" is spelled S-H-O-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ʃɔː/.
What does "shore" mean?
As a noun, "shore" means: Land adjoining a non-flowing body of water, such as an ocean, lake or pond.
What words are commonly confused with "shore"?
"shore" is commonly confused with "soe", "sor", "some". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "shore"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "shore" is /ʃɔː/. 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 "shore"?
From Middle English schore, from Old English *sċora (attested as sċor- in placenames), from Proto-Germanic *skurô (“rugged rock, cliff, high rocky shore”). Possibly related to Old English sċieran (“to cut”), which survives today as English shear. ... 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 "shore", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

shake#4,121spots#4,123stats#4,124robin#4,118

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

bones7 variantsjokes7 variantscommit7 variantspound7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list