scythe
/ˈsaɪð/
"scythe" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“scythe” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #38,152 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #38,152
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An instrument for mowing grass, grain, etc. by hand, composed of a long, curving blade with a sharp concave edge, fastened to a long handle called a snath.
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 | scythe |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsaɪð/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #38,152 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “scythe” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for scythe is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsaɪð/. Corpus data places it at rank #38,152 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for scythe, with forms such as "csythe", "sccythe", and "sctyhe". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "Smyth", "soothe", "Smythe", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sythe, sithe, from Old English sīþe, sīgþe, sigdi (“sickle”), from Proto-West Germanic *sigiþi, from Proto-Germanic *sigiþiz, *sigiþō, derived from *seg- (“saw”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”). Immediate Germanic cognates inc… The correct English form is scythe, spelled S-C-Y-T-H-E.
Definition
- 1An instrument for mowing grass, grain, etc. by hand, composed of a long, curving blade with a sharp concave edge, fastened to a long handle called a snath.
- 2A scythe-shaped blade attached to ancient war chariots.
- 3The tenth Lenormand card.
Etymology
From Middle English sythe, sithe, from Old English sīþe, sīgþe, sigdi (“sickle”), from Proto-West Germanic *sigiþi, from Proto-Germanic *sigiþiz, *sigiþō, derived from *seg- (“saw”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”). Immediate Germanic cognates include Middle Low German sēgede, Dutch zicht, Icelandic sigð (all “sickle”). More distantly related with Dutch zeis, German Sense (both “scythe”). Also akin to English saw, which see. The silent c crept in during the early 15th century owing to folk-etymological association with Medieval Latin scissor (“tailor, carver”), from Latin scindō (“to cut, rend, split”). The verb, which was first used in the intransitive sense, is from the noun.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: csythe,sccythe,sctyhe,scyhte,scyteh,scythhe,scytthe,scyythe,sscythe,sycthe
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of scythe - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
How do you spell "scythe"?
What does "scythe" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "scythe"?
How do you pronounce "scythe"?
What is the origin of the word "scythe"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “scythe”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-C-Y-T-H-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsaɪð/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Smyth” - see the side-by-side comparison. scythe vs Smyth
- 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.