shrine
/ʃɹaɪ̯n/
"shrine" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shrine” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #10,768 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #10,768
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A holy or sacred place dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, or similar figure of awe and respect, at which said figure is venerated or worshipped.
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 | shrine |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ʃɹaɪ̯n/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #10,768 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “shrine” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for shrine is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ʃɹaɪ̯n/. Corpus data places it at rank #10,768 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for shrine, with forms such as "hsrine", "shhrine", and "shirne". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "sine", "spine", "swine", 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 shryne, from Old English scrīn (“reliquary, ark of the covenant”), from Medieval Latin scrīnium (“reliquary”), “case or chest for books or papers” in Classical Latin. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). Compar… The correct English form is shrine, spelled S-H-R-I-N-E.
Definition
- 1A holy or sacred place dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, or similar figure of awe and respect, at which said figure is venerated or worshipped.
- 2A case, box, or receptacle, especially one in which are deposited sacred relics, as the bones of a saint.
- 3A place or object hallowed from its history or associations.
Etymology
From Middle English shryne, from Old English scrīn (“reliquary, ark of the covenant”), from Medieval Latin scrīnium (“reliquary”), “case or chest for books or papers” in Classical Latin. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). Compare Old Norse skrín, Old High German skrīni (German Schrein).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hsrine,shhrine,shirne,shrien,shrinne,shrnie,shrrine,srhine,sshrine
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of shrine - 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "shrine"?
What does "shrine" mean?
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Using “shrine”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-H-R-I-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ʃɹaɪ̯n/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “sine” - see the side-by-side comparison. shrine vs sine
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.