show
/ʃəʊ/
"show" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“show” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #199. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #199
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - To display, to have somebody see (something).
Corpus desk
Index EN-show · show · English
show · rank #199 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #199
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH must
Nearest frequency peer: must (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “show”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- end
end
99,805 corpus weight
- found
found
99,804 corpus weight
- must
must
99,803 corpus weight
- show
show
99,802 corpus weight
- big
big
99,801 corpus weight
- feel
feel
99,800 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “show” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | show |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ʃəʊ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #199 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “show” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around show (IPA /ʃəʊ/), averb. Corpus frequency is #199 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 10 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for show, with forms such as "hsow", "shhow", and "showw". 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, "so", "SW", "son", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English schewen, from Old English scēawian (“to look, look at, exhibit, display”), from Proto-West Germanic *skauwōn, from Proto-Germanic *skawwōną (“to look, see”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewh₁- (“to heed, look, feel, take note of”); see … The correct English form is show, spelled S-H-O-W.
Definition
- 1To display, to have somebody see (something).
- 2To bestow; to confer.
- 3To indicate (a fact) to be true; to demonstrate.
- 4To guide or escort.
- 5To be visible; to be seen; to appear.
- 6To put in an appearance; show up.
- 7To have an enlarged belly and thus be recognizable as pregnant.
- 8To finish third, especially of horses or dogs.
- 9To reveal one's hand of cards.
- 10To have a certain appearance, such as well or ill, fit or unfit; to become or suit; to appear.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how show appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The car's dull finish showed years of neglect.
All he had to show for four years of attendance at college was a framed piece of paper.
Etymology
From Middle English schewen, from Old English scēawian (“to look, look at, exhibit, display”), from Proto-West Germanic *skauwōn, from Proto-Germanic *skawwōną (“to look, see”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewh₁- (“to heed, look, feel, take note of”); see haw, gaum, caveat, caution. Cognate with Scots shaw (“to show”), Dutch schouwen (“to inspect, view”), German schauen (“to see, behold”), Danish skue (“to behold”). Related to sheen. Wider cognates include Ancient Greek κῦδος (kûdos), Latin caveō whence English caution and caveat, Sanskrit कवि (kaví, “seer, prophet, bard”), Proto-Slavic *čuti (whence Russian чу́ять (čújatʹ) and many more).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- hsow
- shhow
- showw
- shwo
- sohw
- sshow
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of show - 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.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "show"?
What does "show" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "show"?
How do you pronounce "show"?
What is the origin of the word "show"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "show", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).
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.