shittyvssixtyConfusable pair

Quick tell: shitty is a adjective, sixty is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“shitty” is an adjective and “sixty” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,735
“shitty” frequency rank
#7,978
“sixty” frequency rank
14713
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shitty sixty
Definition Very bad; unpleasant; miserable; insignificant. The cardinal number occurring after fifty-nine and before sixty-one, represented in Roman numerals as LX and in Arabic numerals as 60.

Where the eye mixes shitty and sixty

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
shitty
5 ch
sixty

Why the eye confuses shitty with sixty

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: shitty is /ˈʃɪti/ while sixty is /ˈsɪksti/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14713, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

shitty is recorded at frequency rank #6,735, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈʃɪti/. sixty is at rank #7,978, tagged as anum, pronounced /ˈsɪksti/.

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 14713, this pair ranks #468,409 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of shitty vs sixty

Shared letters: isty. Private to "shitty": h. Private to "sixty": x.

"shitty" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "sixty" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • shittyhsitty · shhitty · shittyy · shity · shityt · shtity · sihtty · sshitty
  • sixtyisxty · sitxy · sixtty · sixtyy · sixxty · sixyt · ssixty · sxity

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "shitty" and "sixty" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "shitty" is an adjective and "sixty" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "shitty" vs "sixty" - which ranks higher?
"shitty" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,735 in our English list, against #7,978 for "sixty". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "shitty" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sixty" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #468,409 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "shitty" and "sixty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Shinto vs shitty". 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 #468,409 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