Which to use
“sleight” is a noun and “slight” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,569
- “sleight” frequency rank
- #4,982
- “slight” frequency rank
- 44551
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sleight | slight |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Cunning; craft; artful practice. | Minor; small in amount |
Same sound, different letters: sleight vs slight
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. sleight runs 7 letters (CCVVCCC) against slight's 6 (CCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - sleight / slight
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: sleight and slight carry the same recorded pronunciation, /slaɪt/. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44551, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sleight is recorded at frequency rank #39,569, classified as anoun, pronounced /slaɪt/. slight is at rank #4,982, tagged as anadj, pronounced /slaɪt/.
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 44551, this pair ranks #229,478 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sleight vs slight
Shared letters: ghilst. Private to "sleight": e. Private to "slight": -.
"sleight" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCC · "slight" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sleight" and "slight" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "sleight" or "slight"?
After this comparison
"sleight" and "slight" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "sleight" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "slight" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #229,478 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sleight" and "slight" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sleigh vs sleight". 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 #229,478 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.