Which to use
“shot” is a noun and “shut” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,254
- “shot” frequency rank
- #41,005
- “shut” frequency rank
- 56259
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shot | shut |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Verre à shot. | Refermer, fermer ce qui était ouvert, fermer. |
Letter map: shot vs shut
Shared letters muted; letters that set shot and shut apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Grammar separator: shot vs shut
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: shot is anoun and shutaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - o in “shot” becomes u in “shut”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56259, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shot is recorded at frequency rank #15,254, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃɔt\. shut is at rank #41,005, tagged as averb.
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 56259, this pair ranks #122,221 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of shot vs shut
Shared letters: hst. Private to "shot": o. Private to "shut": u.
"shot" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "shut" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "shot" and "shut" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "shot" vs "shut" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pair "shot" vs "shut" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "shot" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #122,221 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shot" and "shut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shut vs suu". 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 #122,221 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.