it doesn't crash for me although the shape itself is not working very well

It may be you compilation/installation has gone wrong somehow

I looked deeper into this:

(gdb) next
37      in /var/tmp/paludis/app-office-calligra-2.3.87/work/calligra-2.3.87/libs/flake/tools/KoCreateShapeStrategy.cpp
(gdb) 
39      in /var/tmp/paludis/app-office-calligra-2.3.87/work/calligra-2.3.87/libs/flake/tools/KoCreateShapeStrategy.cpp
(gdb) 
37      in /var/tmp/paludis/app-office-calligra-2.3.87/work/calligra-2.3.87/libs/flake/tools/KoCreateShapeStrategy.cpp
(gdb) 
40      in /var/tmp/paludis/app-office-calligra-2.3.87/work/calligra-2.3.87/libs/flake/tools/KoCreateShapeStrategy.cpp
(gdb) 
41      in /var/tmp/paludis/app-office-calligra-2.3.87/work/calligra-2.3.87/libs/flake/tools/KoCreateShapeStrategy.cpp
(gdb) 
42      in /var/tmp/paludis/app-office-calligra-2.3.87/work/calligra-2.3.87/libs/flake/tools/KoCreateShapeStrategy.cpp
(gdb) 
44      in /var/tmp/paludis/app-office-calligra-2.3.87/work/calligra-2.3.87/libs/flake/tools/KoCreateShapeStrategy.cpp
(gdb) 
47      in /var/tmp/paludis/app-office-calligra-2.3.87/work/calligra-2.3.87/libs/flake/tools/KoCreateShapeStrategy.cpp
(gdb) 
50      in /var/tmp/paludis/app-office-calligra-2.3.87/work/calligra-2.3.87/libs/flake/tools/KoCreateShapeStrategy.cpp
(gdb) 

Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
KoCreateShapeStrategy::KoCreateShapeStrategy (this=0x26554f0, tool=<optimized out>, clicked=...) at /var/tmp/paludis/app-office-calligra-2.3.87/work/calligra-2.3.87/libs/flake/tools/KoCreateShapeStrategy.cpp:50
50      in /var/tmp/paludis/app-office-calligra-2.3.87/work/calligra-2.3.87/libs/flake/tools/KoCreateShapeStrategy.cpp
(gdb) print shape
$7 = (KoShape *) 0x0       
(gdb) print parent
$9 = (KoCreateShapesTool *) 0x2669400
(gdb) print parent->shapeId 
$10 = {QString (const KoCreateShapesTool * const)} 0x7eff2343bad0 <KoCreateShapesTool::shapeId() const>
(gdb) print parent->shapeId()
$11 = {static null = {<No data fields>}, static shared_null = {ref = {_q_value = 19094}, alloc = 0, size = 0, data = 0x60d5fa, clean = 0, simpletext = 0, righttoleft = 0, asciiCache = 0, capacity = 0, reserved = 0, array = {0}}, 
  static shared_empty = {ref = {_q_value = 219}, alloc = 0, size = 0, data = 0x7eff361bd8ba, clean = 0, simpletext = 0, righttoleft = 0, asciiCache = 0, capacity = 0, reserved = 0, array = {0}}, d = 0x1fe59f0, static codecForCStrings = 0x0}

So shape is 0 in this context, because parent->shapeId() returned an empty string. Where could I look next?

in sheets/shape/TableShape.cpp line 88

the constructor needs to call:
setShapeId(id);

where id is some unique string for example: "tableshape"

Sorry, it was NOT the shapeId. I printed the value in gdb, and that just returned an empty string.
The problem seems to be bound to localization. I am running with german localization. The query in KoShapeFactoryBase.cpp:245 asks for "Name == 'Spreadsheet Shape'". I only get a non-empty offers list, when i ask for "Name == 'Tabellenobjekt'". I am not sure where to fix this.

Sorry, incomplete sentence...
>> when i ask for "Name == 'Tabellenobjekt'" it works.

This patch fixes the crash, when running german calligrawords in a german kde-session. When running calligrawords in another localization then the session-localization (e.g.english words in german session) it still will crash.


=====

--- sheets/shape/TableShapeFactory.cpp.org	2012-03-23 09:33:02.258388407 +0100
+++ sheets/shape/TableShapeFactory.cpp	2012-03-23 09:27:13.422362087 +0100
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
 
 
 TableShapeFactory::TableShapeFactory()
-    : KoShapeFactoryBase(TableShapeId, i18n("Spreadsheet"), "Spreadsheet Shape")
+    : KoShapeFactoryBase(TableShapeId, i18n("Spreadsheet"), i18n("Spreadsheet Shape"))
 {
     setToolTip(i18n("Spreadsheet Shape"));
     setIcon("spreadsheetshape");

this is not really a words bug but relted to sheets

*** Bug 296690 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Git commit af29c8a7a9d67b476b4de68604e01f1558181b12 by Boudewijn Rempt.
Committed on 29/03/2012 at 15:32.
Pushed by rempt into branch 'master'.

Fix inserting table shape in non-english locale

Comparing a translated name with a fixed text isn't going to work...
Related: bug 297029

Okay to backport to 2.4?

M  +2    -0    libs/flake/KoDeferredShapeFactoryBase.h
M  +2    -7    libs/flake/KoShapeFactoryBase.cpp
M  +2    -0    sheets/shape/TableShapeDeferredFactory.h
M  +1    -1    sheets/shape/TableShapeFactory.cpp
M  +1    -0    sheets/shape/spreadsheetshape-deferred.desktop

http://commits.kde.org/calligra/af29c8a7a9d67b476b4de68604e01f1558181b12

Git commit 0f96e4b78756deaba77b2d8d486ea5585bd8f652 by Boudewijn Rempt.
Committed on 29/03/2012 at 15:32.
Pushed by rempt into branch 'calligra/2.4'.

Fix inserting table shape in non-english locale

Comparing a translated name with a fixed text isn't going to work...
Related: bug 297029

Okay to backport to 2.4?

M  +2    -0    libs/flake/KoDeferredShapeFactoryBase.h
M  +2    -7    libs/flake/KoShapeFactoryBase.cpp
M  +2    -0    sheets/shape/TableShapeDeferredFactory.h
M  +1    -1    sheets/shape/TableShapeFactory.cpp
M  +1    -0    sheets/shape/spreadsheetshape-deferred.desktop

http://commits.kde.org/calligra/0f96e4b78756deaba77b2d8d486ea5585bd8f652

Thanks, this solves the issues.
Patch applied to calligra-2.3.92.