siftedvssitesConfusable pair

Quick tell: sifted is a adjective, sites is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sifted” is an adjective and “sites” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,049
“sifted” frequency rank
#1,878
“sites” frequency rank
50927
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sifted sites
Definition Having undergone sifting. plural of site

Letter map: sifted vs sites

Shared letters muted; letters that set sifted and sites apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. sifted runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against sites's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
sifted
5 ch
sites

Grammar separator: sifted vs sites

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sifted is anadjective and sitesanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50927, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sifted is recorded at frequency rank #49,049, classified as anadj. sites is at rank #1,878, tagged as anoun, pronounced /saɪts/.

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 50927, this pair ranks #169,934 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sifted vs sites

Shared letters: eist. Private to "sifted": df. Private to "sites": -.

"sifted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "sites" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sifted ← isfted · sfited · sifetd · siffted · siftde · siftedd · siftted · sitfed
  • sites ← istes · siets · sitess · sitse · sittes · ssites · sties

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sifted" and "sites" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sifted" is an adjective and "sites" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "sifted" or "sites" show up more?
"sites" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,878 in our English list, against #49,049 for "sifted". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pair "sifted" vs "sites" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sifted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sites" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #169,934 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sifted" and "sites" 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 #169,934 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