Stich or stitch?
stich is a noun meaning “A part of a line of poetry, especially in the distichal poetry of the Hebrew…”; stitch is a noun meaning “A single pass of a needle in sewing; the loop or turn of the thread thus made”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) stitch is about 38 times as common as stich.
What is the difference between stich and stitch?
| stich | stitch | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun, verb |
| Meaning | A part of a line of poetry, especially in the distichal poetry of the Hebrew Bible and in early Germanic heroic verse such as Beowulf, where the line is… | A single pass of a needle in sewing; the loop or turn of the thread thus made A single pass of a surgical suture (to sew the edges of a wound together) To form stitches in; especially, to sew in such a manner as to show on the surface a continuous line of stitches |
| Example | none recorded | I cut myself badly while cooking and needed to go to hospital to get stitches |
| Forms | stichs stiches | stitches |
| Pronunciation | /stɪk/ | /stɪt͡ʃ/ |
| In writing | about once in every 9 million words | 4.4 times per million words |
Sources: stich and stitch in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of stich and stitch
stich
- 1
A part of a line of poetry, especially in the distichal poetry of the Hebrew Bible and in early Germanic heroic verse such as Beowulf, where the line is composed of two (occasionally three) such…
stitch
- 1
A single pass of a needle in sewing; the loop or turn of the thread thus made
- 2
To form stitches in; especially, to sew in such a manner as to show on the surface a continuous line of stitches
to stitch a shirt bosom
- 3
A single pass of a surgical suture (to sew the edges of a wound together)
I cut myself badly while cooking and needed to go to hospital to get stitches
- 4
To sew, or unite or attach by stitches
to stitch printed sheets in making a book or a pamphlet
- 5
An arrangement of stitches in sewing, or method of stitching in some particular way or style
cross stitch
- 6
To practice/practise stitching or needlework
- 7
An intense stabbing pain under the lower edge of the ribcage, brought on by exercise or laughing
I've got a stitch. I'm going to have to stop and rest
- 8
To form land into ridges
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, stich or stitch?
stich appears about once in every 9 million words; stitch 4.4 times per million words.
stich about once in every 9 million wordsstitch 4.4 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search stich vs stitch?
“stich vs stitch” is searched about 20 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“stitch vs stich”, “stich or stitch”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.