sittersvsSutterWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: sitters is a noun, Sutter is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sitters” is a noun and “Sutter” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,449
“sitters” frequency rank
#26,274
“Sutter” frequency rank
66723
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sitters Sutter
Definition plural of sitter An occupational surname from Swiss German.

Where the eye mixes sitters and Sutter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
sitters
6 ch
Sutter

Why the eye confuses sitters with Sutter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sitters is /ˈsɪtɚz/ while Sutter is /ˈsʌtɚ/. 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 (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66723, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sitters is recorded at frequency rank #40,449, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɪtɚz/. Sutter is at rank #26,274, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈsʌtɚ/.

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 66723, this pair ranks #66,703 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sitters vs Sutter

Shared letters: erst. Private to "sitters": i. Private to "Sutter": u.

"sitters" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "Sutter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sittersistters · siters · sitetrs · sitterrs · sitterss · sittesr · sittres · ssitters
  • Sutterssutter · stuter · suter · sutetr · sutterr · suttre · ustter

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sitters" and "Sutter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sitters" is a noun and "Sutter" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sitters" vs "Sutter" - which ranks higher?
"Sutter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,274 in our English list, against #40,449 for "sitters". 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 "sitters" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Sutter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,703 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sitters" and "Sutter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sitters vs Smithers". 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 #66,703 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