Knit or nit?
knit is a verb meaning “To turn thread or yarn into a piece of fabric by forming loops that are pulled…”; nit is a noun meaning “The egg of a louse”. Use knit as a verb and nit as a noun (nit is also a verb: “To have the modus vivendi of a drug addict, to live the…”). They sound the same (/nɪt/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) knit is about 3.7 times as common as nit.
What is the difference between knit and nit?
| knit | nit | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | noun, verb |
| Meaning | 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 To create a stitch by pulling the working yarn through an existing stitch from back to front A knitted garment | The egg of a louse A young louse To have the modus vivendi of a drug addict, to live the life of a nitty |
| Example | to knit a stocking | This brightness of this LCD screen is between 900 and 1000 nits |
| Forms | knits, knitting, knitted | nits |
| Pronunciation | /nɪt/ | /nɪt/ |
| In writing | 4.6 times per million words | 1.2 times per million words |
Sources: knit and nit in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of knit and nit
knit
- 1
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
to knit a stocking
- 2
A knitted garment
- 3
To create a stitch by pulling the working yarn through an existing stitch from back to front
Stitches that are knitted look like little V’s when seen from the front
- 4
A session of knitting
- 5
To join closely and firmly together
The fight for survival knitted the men closely together
- 6
To become closely and firmly joined; become compacted
- 7
To grow together
All those seedlings knitted into a kaleidoscopic border
- 8
To combine from various elements
The witness knitted together his testimony from contradictory pieces of hearsay
nit
- 1
The egg of a louse
- 2
To have the modus vivendi of a drug addict, to live the life of a nitty
- 3
A candela per square metre
This brightness of this LCD screen is between 900 and 1000 nits
- 4
Synonym of nat (“logarithmic unit of information”)
- 5
A player with an overly cautious and reactive playing style
- 6
IndiaAbbreviation of National Institute of Technology
- 7
A young louse
- 8
IrelandUKA head louse regardless of its age
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, knit or nit?
knit appears 4.6 times per million words; nit 1.2 times per million words.
knit 4.6 times per million wordsnit 1.2 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).