showsvssnowConfusable pair

Which to use

“shows” and “snow” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,135
“shows” frequency rank
#20,833
“snow” frequency rank
31968
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shows snow
Definition Forma del plural de show ('espectáculos'). Nieve.

Where the eye mixes shows and snow

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
shows
4 ch
snow

Why the eye confuses shows with snow

A purely visual mix-up. shows (/ʃəʊz/) and snow (/snəʊ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31968, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

shows is recorded at frequency rank #11,135, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃəʊz/. snow is at rank #20,833, tagged as anoun, pronounced /snəʊ/.

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 31968, this pair ranks #204,393 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of shows vs snow

Shared letters: osw. Private to "shows": h. Private to "snow": n.

"shows" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "snow" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • showshsows · shhows · shosw · showss · showws · shwos · sohws · sshows
  • snownsow · snnow · snoww · snwo · sonw · ssnow

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "shows" for "snow" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ʃəʊz/ versus /snəʊ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "shows" or "snow" show up more?
"shows" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,135 in our Spanish list, against #20,833 for "snow". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "shows" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "snow" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #204,393 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "shows" and "snow" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "snob vs snow". 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 #204,393 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list