shower

/ˈʃaʊ.ə(ɹ)/

//ˈʃaʊ.ə(ɹ)// noun

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

"shower" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“shower” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,026. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,026
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A brief fall of precipitation (spell of rain, or a similar fall of snow, sleet, or cascade); burst of hefty precipitation.

Corpus desk

Index EN-shower · shower · English

shower · rank #3,026 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,026
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH shoulder

Nearest frequency peer: shoulder (-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 “shower”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “shower” 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).

shower vs shows
67% similar
shower vs shown
67% similar
shower vs sober
67% similar

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

Key facts for shower
PropertyValue
Headwordshower
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈʃaʊ.ə(ɹ)/
Letters6
Frequency rank#3,026
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “shower”

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).showerlands 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 “shoulder” (#3,025), “sons” (#3,028), “roman” (#3,023). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “shower” is #3,026. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around shower (IPA /ˈʃaʊ.ə(ɹ)/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,026 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 12 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for shower, with forms such as "hsower", "shhower", and "shoewr". 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, "shows", "shown", "sober", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English schour (“shower”), from Old English sċūr (“shower”), from Proto-West Germanic *skūru (“shower”), from Proto-Germanic *skūrō (“storm, short shower”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱēwer- (“north, north wind, cold wind, rain shower… The correct English form is shower, spelled S-H-O-W-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    A brief fall of precipitation (spell of rain, or a similar fall of snow, sleet, or cascade); burst of hefty precipitation.
  2. 2
    A device for bathing by which water is made to fall on the body from a height, either from a tank or by the action of a pump.
  3. 3
    An instance of using of this device in order to bathe oneself.
  4. 4
    A quantity of something that has characteristics of a rain shower.
  5. 5
    A party associated with a significant event in a person's life, at which the person usually receives gifts.
  6. 6
    A party associated with a significant event in a person's life, at which the person usually receives gifts.
  7. 7
    A party associated with a significant event in a person's life, at which the person usually receives gifts.
  8. 8
    A pattern where the juggler passes objects horizontally from one hand to the other around chest height, and upward over the juggler's head to return to the first hand.
  9. 9
    A battle, an attack; conflict.
  10. 10
    A shower of shit.
  11. 11
    Used as an intensifying pluralizer or intensifier
  12. 12
    A group of people perceived as incompetent or worthless.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Today there will be frequent showers and some sunny spells.
  2. They are wet with the showres of the mountaines, and imbrace the rocke for want of a shelter.

Etymology

From Middle English schour (“shower”), from Old English sċūr (“shower”), from Proto-West Germanic *skūru (“shower”), from Proto-Germanic *skūrō (“storm, short shower”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱēwer- (“north, north wind, cold wind, rain shower”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch schoer (“downpour, heavy rainshower”), German Schauer (“shower”), Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish skur (“shower”), Faroese skúrur (“shower”), Icelandic skúr (“shower”), Norn skur (“squall”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌿𐍂𐌰 (skūra, “storm”), Italian coro (“northwestern wind”), Spanish cauro (“northwestern wind”), Belarusian се́вер (sjévjer), сі́вер (sívjer), Bulgarian and Russian се́вер (séver, “north”), Czech and Slovak sever (“north”), Macedonian север (sever, “north”), Serbo-Croatian sȅvēr, sjȅvēr (“north”), Slovene sẹ́ver (“north”), Ukrainian сі́вер (síver, “cold, cold, bitter wind”).

This word in other languages

chubasco(Español)averse(Français)Schauer(Deutsch)chuveiro(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hsower
  • shhower
  • shoewr
  • showerr
  • showre
  • showwer
  • shwoer
  • sohwer
  • sshower

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

hsower2shhower1shoewr2showerr1showre2showwer1shwoer2sohwer2
Edit distance from "shower"

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 "shower"?
"shower" is spelled S-H-O-W-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈʃaʊ.ə(ɹ)/.
What does "shower" mean?
As a noun, "shower" means: A brief fall of precipitation (spell of rain, or a similar fall of snow, sleet, or cascade); burst of hefty precipitation.
What words are commonly confused with "shower"?
"shower" is commonly confused with "shows", "shown", "sober". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "shower"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "shower" is /ˈʃaʊ.ə(ɹ)/. 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 "shower"?
From Middle English schour (“shower”), from Old English sċūr (“shower”), from Proto-West Germanic *skūru (“shower”), from Proto-Germanic *skūrō (“storm, short shower”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱēwer- (“north, north wind, cold wind, r... 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 "shower", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

visual#3,034racing#3,017barely#3,041Miller#3,009

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

operate9 variantsmarked9 variantsfairly9 variantsfacing9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list