Which to use
“shame” and “skate” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,411
- “shame” frequency rank
- #26,620
- “skate” frequency rank
- 74031
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shame | skate |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vergüenza. | Patineta. |
Where the eye mixes shame and skate
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. shame and skate follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: shame vs skate
A purely visual mix-up. shame (/ʃeɪm/) and skate ([esˈkejt̪]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74031, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shame is recorded at frequency rank #47,411, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃeɪm/. skate is at rank #26,620, tagged as anoun, pronounced [esˈkejt̪].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 74031, this pair ranks #22,094 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shame vs skate
Shared letters: aes. Private to "shame": hm. Private to "skate": kt.
"shame" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "skate" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "shame" and "skate" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "shame" or "skate" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "shame" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "skate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #22,094 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shame" and "skate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shall vs shame". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #22,094 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.