sahib
"sahib" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sahib” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #28,705 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #28,705
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A term of respect for a white European or other man of rank in colonial India.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sahib |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #28,705 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sahib” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sahib is 5 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #28,705 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A term of respect for a white European or other man of rank in colonial India.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for sahib, with forms such as "ashib", "sahbi", and "sahhib". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "shi", "sai", "said", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Hindustani صاحب / साहिब (sāhib, “lord”), from Classical Persian صاحب (sāhib), from Arabic صَاحِب (ṣāḥib, “companion”). The correct English form is sahib, spelled S-A-H-I-B.
Definition
- 1A term of respect for a white European or other man of rank in colonial India.
Etymology
From Hindustani صاحب / साहिब (sāhib, “lord”), from Classical Persian صاحب (sāhib), from Arabic صَاحِب (ṣāḥib, “companion”).
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ashib,sahbi,sahhib,sahibb,saihb,shaib,ssahib
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sahib - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “sahib”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-A-H-I-B - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “shi” - see the side-by-side comparison. sahib vs shi
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.