knitvsKnottWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: knit is a verb, Knott is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“knit” is a verb and “Knott” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,907
“knit” frequency rank
#46,575
“Knott” frequency rank
58482
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature knit Knott
Definition To turn thread or yarn into a piece of fabric by forming loops that are pulled through each other. This can be done by hand with needles or by machine. A surname transferred from the given name.

Letter map: knit vs Knott

Shared letters muted; letters that set knit and Knott apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
knit
5 ch
Knott

Role in the sentence - knit and Knott

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: knit is averb and Knottaname. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58482, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

knit is recorded at frequency rank #11,907, classified as averb, pronounced /nɪt/. Knott is at rank #46,575, tagged as aname.

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 58482, this pair ranks #112,257 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of knit vs Knott

Shared letters: knt. Private to "knit": i. Private to "Knott": o.

"knit" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "Knott" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • knitkint · kknit · knitt · knnit · knti · nkit
  • Knottkknott · knnott · kntot · kontt · nkott

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "knit" for "Knott" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "knit" is a verb and "Knott" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "knit" or "Knott" show up more?
"knit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,907 in our English list, against #46,575 for "Knott". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "knit" vs "Knott" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "knit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Knott" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #112,257 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "knit" and "Knott" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kno vs Knott". 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 #112,257 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list