she'svsshowsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: she's is a contraction, shows is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“she's” is a contraction and “shows” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,857
“she's” frequency rank
#11,135
“shows” frequency rank
54992
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature she's shows
Definition Contracción de she is, ella es o ella esta. Forma del plural de show ('espectáculos').

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set she's and shows apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
she's
5 ch
shows

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: she's is /ʃiz/ while shows is /ʃəʊz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (contraction vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54992, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

she's is recorded at frequency rank #43,857, classified as acontraction, pronounced /ʃiz/. shows is at rank #11,135, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ʃəʊz/.

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 54992, this pair ranks #80,871 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of she's vs shows

Shared letters: hs. Private to "she's": e. Private to "shows": ow.

"she's" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "shows" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • showshsows · shhows · shosw · showss · showws · shwos · sohws · sshows

Frequency comparison

she's#43,857
shows#11,135

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "she's" and "shows" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "she's" is a contraction and "shows" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "she's" or "shows"?
"shows" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,135 in our Spanish list, against #43,857 for "she's". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering she's vs shows

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a contraction, it's “she's”; for a noun, it's “shows”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “she's” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list