shaft

/ʃɑːft/

//ʃɑːft// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"shaft" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“shaft” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #8,347. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#8,347
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The entire body of a long weapon, such as an arrow.

Corpus desk

Index EN-shaft · shaft · English

shaft · rank #8,347 · 8 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #8,347
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH sensation

Nearest frequency peer: sensation (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “shaft”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “shaft” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

shaft vs shit
60% similar
shaft vs shot
60% similar
shaft vs shut
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for shaft
PropertyValue
Headwordshaft
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ʃɑːft/
Letters5
Frequency rank#8,347
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “shaft” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).shaftlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “sensation” (#8,346), “shepherd” (#8,348), “Sebastian” (#8,345). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around shaft (IPA /ʃɑːft/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #8,347 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 17 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for shaft, with forms such as "hsaft", "sahft", and "shafft". 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, "shit", "shot", "shut", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English schaft, from Old English sċeaft, from Proto-West Germanic *skaft, from Proto-Germanic *skaftaz. Cognate with Dutch schacht, German German Schaft, Swedish skaft. In Early Modern English, shaft referred to the entire body of a long weapon,… The correct English form is shaft, spelled S-H-A-F-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    The entire body of a long weapon, such as an arrow.
  2. 2
    The long, narrow, central body of a spear, arrow, or javelin.
  3. 3
    Anything cast or thrown as a spear or javelin.
  4. 4
    Any long thin object, such as the handle of a tool.
  5. 5
    Any long thin object, such as the handle of a tool.
  6. 6
    Any long thin object, such as the handle of a tool.
  7. 7
    A beam or ray of light.
  8. 8
    The main axis of a feather.
  9. 9
    A vertical or inclined passage sunk into the earth as part of a mine.
  10. 10
    A vertical passage housing a lift or elevator.
  11. 11
    A ventilation or heating conduit.
  12. 12
    Any column or pillar, particularly the body of a column between its capital and pedestal.
  13. 13
    The main cylindrical part of the penis.
  14. 14
    The chamber of a blast furnace.
  15. 15
    A relatively small area of precipitation that an onlook can discern from the dry surrounding area.
  16. 16
    A component of a loom which holds the heddles and is raised by treadles to create the shed.
  17. 17
    An act of sexual intercourse.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how shaft appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. A shaft hath three principal parts, the stele, the feathers, and the head.
  2. Her hand slipped off the javelin's shaft towards the spearpoint and that's why her score was lowered.

Etymology

From Middle English schaft, from Old English sċeaft, from Proto-West Germanic *skaft, from Proto-Germanic *skaftaz. Cognate with Dutch schacht, German German Schaft, Swedish skaft. In Early Modern English, shaft referred to the entire body of a long weapon, such that an arrow's “shaft” was composed of its tip, stale, and fletching. Over time, the word came to be used in place of the former stale and lost its original meaning.

This word in other languages

asta(Español)hampe(Français)Schaft(Deutsch)haste(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hsaft
  • sahft
  • shafft
  • shaftt
  • shatf
  • shfat
  • shhaft
  • sshaft

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of shaft - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

hsaft2sahft2shafft1shaftt1shatf2shfat2shhaft1sshaft1
Edit distance from "shaft"

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 "shaft"?
"shaft" is spelled S-H-A-F-T. The IPA pronunciation is /ʃɑːft/.
What does "shaft" mean?
As a noun, "shaft" means: The entire body of a long weapon, such as an arrow.
What words are commonly confused with "shaft"?
"shaft" is commonly confused with "shit", "shot", "shut". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "shaft"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "shaft" is /ʃɑːft/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "shaft"?
From Middle English schaft, from Old English sċeaft, from Proto-West Germanic *skaft, from Proto-Germanic *skaftaz. Cognate with Dutch schacht, German German Schaft, Swedish skaft. In Early Modern English, shaft referred to the entire body of a lo... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "shaft", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

scrap#8,344slope#8,350Riley#8,343snack#8,351

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

stern8 variantssworn8 variantstheres8 variantspeanut8 variants

What to do next

You've looked up "shaft". Here's where to go from here.

  • "shaft" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "shit". View pair
  • 8 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #8,347 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "S" letter cohort. S–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list