English homophones
cit/sit
"cit" is a noun; "sit" is a verb - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Grammar picks the spelling
Same sound, different grammar: "cit" arrives as a noun, while "sit" is a verb. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- No shared spelling stem: "cit" is 3 letters, "sit" is 3; only the sound ties them.
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across cit, sit: it. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
cit
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory cit · private c
sit
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory ist · private s
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "cit" when you mean: a citizen; a city dweller, a townsman.
- Write "sit" when you mean: To be in a position in which the upper body is upright and supported by the buttocks.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (cit, sit). Here's where to go from here.
- "sit" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #1,355 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: curb · kerb. Nearby cluster
- Grammar often disambiguates this cluster, match the meaning to the part of speech before picking a spelling. Pick by meaning
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.