Which to use
“shops” and “shows” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,734
- “shops” frequency rank
- #17,271
- “shows” frequency rank
- 62005
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shops | shows |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de shop. | Pluriel de show. |
Where the eye mixes shops and shows
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: shops vs shows
A purely visual mix-up. shops (\ʃɔp\) and shows (\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 a single letter - p in “shops” becomes w in “shows”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62005, 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\. shows is at rank #17,271, 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 62005, this pair ranks #89,352 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shops vs shows
Shared letters: hos. Private to "shops": p. Private to "shows": w.
"shops" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "shows" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "shops" and "shows" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "shops" or "shows"?
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 "shops" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shows" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #89,352 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shops" and "shows" 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 #89,352 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.