shitvssigWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“shit” and “sig” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#316
“shit” frequency rank
#20,497
“sig” frequency rank
20813
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shit sig
Definition Usually solid excretory product evacuated from the bowels; feces. A signature, especially one on emails or newsgroup postings.

Where the eye mixes shit and sig

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
shit
3 ch
sig

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. shit (/ʃɪt/) and sig (/sɪɡ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20813, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

shit is recorded at frequency rank #316, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃɪt/. sig is at rank #20,497, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sɪɡ/.

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 20813, this pair ranks #428,477 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of shit vs sig

Shared letters: is. Private to "shit": ht. Private to "sig": g.

"shit" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "sig" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • shithsit · shhit · shitt · shti · siht · sshit

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "shit" and "sig" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ʃɪt/ versus /sɪɡ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "shit" or "sig"?
"shit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #316 in our English list, against #20,497 for "sig". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list