Which to use
“sick” is a verb and “sit” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,489
- “sick” frequency rank
- #19,040
- “sit” frequency rank
- 46529
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sick | sit |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sicken | Neutrum Singular des Possessivpronomens sin |
Where the eye mixes sick and sit
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: sick vs sit
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sick is [zɪk] while sit is [ˈsid̥]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46529, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sick is recorded at frequency rank #27,489, classified as averb, pronounced [zɪk]. sit is at rank #19,040, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈsid̥].
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 46529, this pair ranks #1,315,927 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sick vs sit
Shared letters: is. Private to "sick": ck. Private to "sit": t.
"sick" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "sit" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sick ← isck · scik · sicck · sickk · sikc · ssick
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sick" and "sit" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "sick" vs "sit" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "sick" and "sit" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sick" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,315,927 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sick" and "sit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sick vs Sire". 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 #1,315,927 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.