Thanks to some new nucleating techniques, freshwater pearls can be found in a nearly endless variety of shapes, but the more traditional shapes include:

* Round - Perfectly spherical, or very nearly so. These are primarily saltwater pearls, although the Chinese have recently succeeded in creating round freshwater pearls.
* Stick - Long and thin with many irregularities.
* Rice - Small ovals drilled lengthwise.
* Potato - Often lumpy, these are typically rounder than rice pearls and may be drilled either lengthwise or widthwise.
* Nugget - Usually a little more square or pebble shaped than rice or potato pearls and almost always having a flat side.
* Coin - Large, circular and flat, often about the size of a dime, with the hole drilled end-to-end. Coin pearls, unlike most freshwater pearls, are created using a bead nucleus. Newer coin shapes include hearts, squares, ovals and large pears and drops.
* Keishi - Sometimes called "cornflake" pearls, these are flat and highly irregular. Keishi pearls are formed when an oyster manages to expel a bead nucleus, but continues to make a pearl.
* Drop - Teardrop, pear or even peanut shapes, drilled either lengthwise, or widthwise at the narrowest end.
* Button - Rondelle shaped, often with a flatter side, and drilled through the "hub" of the wheel. A "lollipop" pearl is a button pearl that has been drilled across the larger dimension of the pearl; lollipop pearls tend to be flat on the back and domed (curved) on the top.