shove

/ʃʌv/

//ʃʌv// verb

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

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

The verdict

“shove” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #11,965. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#11,965
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To push, especially roughly or with force.

Corpus desk

Index EN-shove · shove · English

shove · rank #11,965 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #11,965
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH shaved

Nearest frequency peer: shaved (-2 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 “shove”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “shove” 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).

shove vs soe
60% similar
shove vs sov
60% similar
shove vs some
60% similar

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

Key facts for shove
PropertyValue
Headwordshove
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/ʃʌv/
Letters5
Frequency rank#11,965
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “shove”

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).shovelands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “shaved” (#11,963), “smashing” (#11,967), “screened” (#11,962). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “shove” is #11,965. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around shove (IPA /ʃʌv/), averb. Corpus frequency is #11,965 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for shove, with forms such as "hsove", "shhove", and "shoev". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "soe", "sov", "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 schoven, shoven, schouven, from Old English sċūfan, from Proto-West Germanic *skeuban, from Proto-Germanic *skeubaną, from Proto-Indo-European *skewbʰ-. See also West Frisian skowe, Low German schuven, Dutch schuiven, German schieben, Da… The correct English form is shove, spelled S-H-O-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    To push, especially roughly or with force.
  2. 2
    To move off or along by an act of pushing, as with an oar or pole used in a boat; sometimes with off.
  3. 3
    To make an all-in bet.
  4. 4
    To pass (counterfeit money).
  5. 5
    To put hurriedly

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. So, after a spell, he decided to make the best of it and shoved us into the front parlor. 'Twas a dismal sort of place, with hair wreaths, and wax fruit, and tin lambrekins, and land knows what all
  2. The ship was anon shoven in the sea.

Etymology

From Middle English schoven, shoven, schouven, from Old English sċūfan, from Proto-West Germanic *skeuban, from Proto-Germanic *skeubaną, from Proto-Indo-European *skewbʰ-. See also West Frisian skowe, Low German schuven, Dutch schuiven, German schieben, Danish skubbe, Norwegian Bokmål skyve, Norwegian Nynorsk skuva; also Lithuanian skùbti (“to hurry”), Polish skubać (“to pluck”), Albanian humb (“to lose”).

This word in other languages

empujar(Español)bousculer(Français)schubsen(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hsove
  • shhove
  • shoev
  • shovve
  • shvoe
  • sohve
  • sshove

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of shove - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

hsove2shhove1shoev2shovve1shvoe2sohve2sshove1
Edit distance from "shove"

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 "shove"?
"shove" is spelled S-H-O-V-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ʃʌv/.
What does "shove" mean?
As a verb, "shove" means: To push, especially roughly or with force.
What words are commonly confused with "shove"?
"shove" is commonly confused with "soe", "sov", "some". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "shove"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "shove" is /ʃʌv/. 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 "shove"?
From Middle English schoven, shoven, schouven, from Old English sċūfan, from Proto-West Germanic *skeuban, from Proto-Germanic *skeubaną, from Proto-Indo-European *skewbʰ-. See also West Frisian skowe, Low German schuven, Dutch schuiven, German sc... 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 "shove", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

rouge#11,956ropes#11,955repay#11,953Perez#11,935

Similar misspelling depth

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

Reddit7 variantspinned7 variantsbasil7 variantsKumar7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list