shitvssuitWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#316
“shit” frequency rank
#2,055
“suit” frequency rank
2371
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shit suit
Definition Usually solid excretory product evacuated from the bowels; feces. A set of clothes to be worn together, now especially a man's matching jacket and trousers (also business suit or lounge suit), or a similar outfit for a woman.

Where the eye mixes shit and suit

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
shit
4 ch
suit

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. shit (/ʃɪt/) and suit (/sjuːt/) 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 a single letter - h in “shit” becomes u in “suit”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2371, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

shit is recorded at frequency rank #316, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃɪt/. suit is at rank #2,055, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sjuːt/.

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 2371, this pair ranks #525,147 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of shit vs suit

Shared letters: ist. Private to "shit": h. Private to "suit": u.

"shit" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "suit" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • shithsit · shhit · shitt · shti · siht · sshit
  • suitsiut · ssuit · suitt · suti · usit

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "shit" and "suit" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ʃɪt/ versus /sjuːt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "shit" or "suit"?
"shit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #316 in our English list, against #2,055 for "suit". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list