Which to use
“shows” and “sons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,271
- “shows” frequency rank
- #4,287
- “sons” frequency rank
- 21558
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shows | sons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de show. | Pluriel de son. |
Where the eye mixes shows and sons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: shows vs sons
A purely visual mix-up. shows (\ʃo\) and sons (\sɔ̃\) 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 21558, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shows is recorded at frequency rank #17,271, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃo\. sons is at rank #4,287, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɔ̃\.
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 21558, this pair ranks #362,548 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of shows vs sons
Shared letters: os. Private to "shows": hw. Private to "sons": n.
"shows" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "sons" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "shows" and "sons" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "shows" vs "sons" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "shows" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #362,548 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shows" and "sons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shower vs shows". 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 #362,548 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.