Which to use
“shops” and “show” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,734
- “shops” frequency rank
- #2,852
- “show” frequency rank
- 47586
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shops | show |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de shop. | Spectacle. |
Where the eye mixes shops and show
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses shops with show
A purely visual mix-up. shops (\ʃɔp\) and show (\ʃo\) 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 47586, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shops is recorded at frequency rank #44,734, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɔp\. show is at rank #2,852, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʃo\.
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 47586, this pair ranks #185,772 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of shops vs show
Shared letters: hos. Private to "shops": p. Private to "show": w.
"shops" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "show" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "shops" and "show" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "shops" or "show"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "shops" and "show" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "shops" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "show" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #185,772 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shops" and "show" 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 #185,772 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.