shitsvsSTSTell them apart

Which to use

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

#12,326
“shits” frequency rank
#20,790
“STS” frequency rank
33116
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shits STS
Definition plural of shit Initialism of science and technology studies.

Letter map: shits vs STS

Shared letters muted; letters that set shits and STS apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
shits
3 ch
STS

Pair insight - shits / STS

shits and STS are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33116, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

shits is recorded at frequency rank #12,326, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃɪts/. STS is at rank #20,790, tagged as anoun.

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 33116, this pair ranks #332,154 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of shits vs STS

Shared letters: st. Private to "shits": hi. Private to "STS": -.

"shits" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "STS" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • shitshsits · shhits · shist · shitss · shitts · shtis · sihts · sshits

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "shits" for "STS" ever safe?
No. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "shits" vs "STS" - which ranks higher?
"shits" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,326 in our English list, against #20,790 for "STS". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "shits" and "STS". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "shits" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "STS" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #332,154 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "shits" and "STS" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "STS vs suds". 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 #332,154 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