Which to use
“sixth” is an adjective and “sixty” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,785
- “sixth” frequency rank
- #7,978
- “sixty” frequency rank
- 11763
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sixth | sixty |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The ordinal form of the number six. | The cardinal number occurring after fifty-nine and before sixty-one, represented in Roman numerals as LX and in Arabic numerals as 60. |
Where the eye mixes sixth and sixty
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: sixth vs sixty
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sixth is /sɪksθ/ while sixty is /ˈsɪksti/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - h in “sixth” becomes y in “sixty”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11763, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sixth is recorded at frequency rank #3,785, classified as anadj, pronounced /sɪksθ/. sixty is at rank #7,978, tagged as anum, pronounced /ˈsɪksti/.
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 11763, this pair ranks #485,273 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sixth vs sixty
Shared letters: istx. Private to "sixth": h. Private to "sixty": y.
"sixth" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "sixty" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sixth" and "sixty" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "sixth" vs "sixty" - which ranks higher?
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 "sixth" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sixty" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #485,273 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sixth" and "sixty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sich vs sixth". 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 #485,273 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.