Which to use
“sift” is a verb and “sifted” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,368
- “sift” frequency rank
- #49,049
- “sifted” frequency rank
- 77417
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sift | sifted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To sieve or strain (something). | Having undergone sifting. |
Letter map: sift vs sifted
Shared letters muted; letters that set sift and sifted apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Grammar separator: sift vs sifted
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sift is averb and siftedanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “sift” sits inside “sifted”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77417, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sift is recorded at frequency rank #28,368, classified as averb, pronounced /sɪft/. sifted is at rank #49,049, tagged as anadj.
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 77417, this pair ranks #27,327 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sift vs sifted
Shared letters: fist. Private to "sift": -. Private to "sifted": de.
"sift" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "sifted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sift" and "sifted" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "sift" vs "sifted" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've compared "sift" and "sifted". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "sift" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sifted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #27,327 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sift" and "sifted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sifted vs stilted". 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 #27,327 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.