# short vs shorten

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### short
*adjective · IPA /ʃɔːt/ · frequency rank #472*
Having a small distance from one end or edge to another, either horizontally or vertically.

### shorten
*verb · IPA /ˈʃɔːtn̩/ · frequency rank #17,718*
To make shorter; to abbreviate.

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