# shift vs shiv

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### shift
*noun · IPA /ʃɪft/ · frequency rank #2,644*
A movement to do something, a beginning.

### shiv
*noun · IPA /ʃɪv/ · frequency rank #25,924*
A knife, especially a makeshift one fashioned from something not normally used as a weapon (like a plastic spoon or a toothbrush).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shift-vs-shiv