Which to use
“shake” and “slave” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,206
- “shake” frequency rank
- #41,727
- “slave” frequency rank
- 56933
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shake | slave |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sacudidela, abalo, tremor | eslavo |
Where the eye mixes shake and slave
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses shake with slave
A purely visual mix-up. shake (/'ʃeɪk/) and slave (/slav/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56933, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shake is recorded at frequency rank #15,206, classified as anoun, pronounced /'ʃeɪk/. slave is at rank #41,727, tagged as anoun, pronounced /slav/.
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 56933, this pair ranks #9,643 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shake vs slave
Shared letters: aes. Private to "shake": hk. Private to "slave": lv.
"shake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "slave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "shake" for "slave" ever safe?
Frequency check: "shake" vs "slave" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "shake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "slave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #9,643 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shake" and "slave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sade vs slave". 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 #9,643 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.