Which to use
“shape” and “shops” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,044
- “shape” frequency rank
- #44,734
- “shops” frequency rank
- 82778
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shape | shops |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forme. | Pluriel de shop. |
Where the eye mixes shape and shops
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. shape (CCVCV) and shops (CCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: shape vs shops
A purely visual mix-up. shape (\ʃɛjp\) and shops (\ʃɔp\) 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 82778, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shape is recorded at frequency rank #38,044, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɛjp\. shops is at rank #44,734, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃɔp\.
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 82778, this pair ranks #16,041 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shape vs shops
Shared letters: hps. Private to "shape": ae. Private to "shops": o.
"shape" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "shops" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "shape" and "shops" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "shape" vs "shops" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "shape" and "shops" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "shape" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shops" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #16,041 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shape" and "shops" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shops vs sirops". 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 #16,041 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.