Which to use
“sister” and “sitter” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,207
- “sister” frequency rank
- #23,100
- “sitter” frequency rank
- 24307
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sister | sitter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A daughter of the same parents as another person; a female sibling. | Someone who sits, e.g. for a portrait. |
Where the eye mixes sister and sitter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. sister and sitter follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses sister with sitter
A purely visual mix-up. sister (/ˈsɪs.tə(ɹ)/) and sitter (/ˈsɪtə/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - s in “sister” becomes t in “sitter”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24307, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sister is recorded at frequency rank #1,207, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɪs.tə(ɹ)/. sitter is at rank #23,100, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɪtə/.
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 24307, this pair ranks #402,935 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sister vs sitter
Shared letters: eirst. Private to "sister": -. Private to "sitter": -.
"sister" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "sitter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sister" and "sitter" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "sister" vs "sitter" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sister" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sitter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #402,935 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sister" and "sitter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sifted vs sitter". 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 #402,935 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.