shore
/ʃɔɹ/noun, verb
shore is spelled S-H-O-R-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 21 times per million words in written English, the 4,076th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, shore means “Land adjoining a non-flowing body of water, such as an ocean, lake or pond” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of shore is shores.
How many letters and syllables are in shore?
| Letters | 5: S-H-O-R-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 21 times per million words; the 4,076th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is shore?
Shore appears 21 times per million words in written English, the 4,076th 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 shore?
- UK /ʃɔː/
- US /ʃɔɹ/
- /ʃo(ː)ɹ/
Shore has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-shore.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with shore
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: sure (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with shore?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as shore from its last stressed vowel (/ɔɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: horse, shero, hoser.
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 shore
- shores plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- shoring participle, present
- shored participle, past
- more shore comparative
- most shore superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does shore mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Land adjoining a non-flowing body of water, such as an ocean, lake or pond.
lake shore; bay shore; gulf shore; island shore; mainland shore; river shore; estuary shore; pond shore; sandy shore; rocky shore
- 2
Land, usually near a port.
The seamen were serving on shore instead of on ships.
- 3
A prop or strut supporting some structure or weight above it.
The shores stayed upright during the earthquake.
- 4
A sewer.
verb
- 1
Not followed by up: to provide (something) with support.
- 2
Usually followed by up: to reinforce (something at risk of failure).
My family shored me up after I failed the GED.
- 3
simple past of shear
- 4
obsoleteTo arrive at the shore
- 5
obsoleteTo put ashore.
- 6
ScotlandarchaicTo threaten or warn unpleasant consequences (for someone); (sometimes) to threaten or warn off or scare away.
- 7
ScotlandarchaicTo threaten (to rain).
- 8
ScotlandarchaicTo offer or present (someone something).
adverb
- 1
ScotlandarchaicPronunciation spelling of sure.
adjective
- 1
ScotlandarchaicPronunciation spelling of sure.
interjection
- 1
ScotlandarchaicPronunciation spelling of sure.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Shore in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense land adjoining a large body of water:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | bord, rive, rivage |
| German | Ufer |
| Portuguese | praia, costa, margem, orla |
| Spanish | orilla, vera |
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 shore come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).