Which to use
“shade” and “shame” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,345
- “shade” frequency rank
- #36,228
- “shame” frequency rank
- 71573
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shade | shame |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sombra | vergonha; desonra |
Letter map: shade vs shame
Shared letters muted; letters that set shade and shame apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. shade and shame follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Corpus notes: shade and shame
shade and shame are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - d in “shade” becomes m in “shame”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71573, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shade is recorded at frequency rank #35,345, classified as anoun. shame is at rank #36,228, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ʃeɪm/.
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 71573, this pair ranks #3,299 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shade vs shame
Shared letters: aehs. Private to "shade": d. Private to "shame": m.
"shade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "shame" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "shade" and "shame" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "shade" vs "shame" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "shade" and "shame".
- Full dictionary entry for "shade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shame" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #3,299 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shade" and "shame" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shame vs shire". 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 #3,299 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.