# sheet

> English word · Noun · IPA /ʃiːt/ · frequency rank #3,653

## Definitions
1. A thin bed cloth used as a covering for a mattress or as a layer over the sleeper.
2. A piece of paper, usually rectangular, that has been prepared for writing, artwork, drafting, wrapping, manufacture of packaging (boxes, envelopes, etc.), and for other uses. The word does not include scraps and irregular small pieces destined to be recycled, used for stuffing or cushioning or paper mache, etc. In modern books, each sheet of paper is typically folded in half, to produce two leaves and four pages. In the absence of folding, "leaf" and "sheet" are equivalent.
3. A flat metal pan, often without raised edge, used for baking.
4. A thin, flat piece or layer of solid material.
5. A broad, flat expanse or covering of a material on a surface.
6. An expanse of something.
7. A line (rope) used to adjust the trim of a sail.
8. A sail.
9. The area of ice on which the game of curling is played.
10. A layer of veneer.
11. Precipitation of such quantity and force as to resemble a thin, virtually solid wall.
12. An extensive bed of an eruptive rock intruded between, or overlying, other strata.
13. The space in the forward or after part of a boat where there are no rowers.
14. A distinct level or stage within a game.

## Etymology
From Middle English schete; partly from Old English sċīete (“a sheet, a piece of linen cloth”); partly from Old English sċēata (“a corner, angle; the lower corner of a sail, sheet”); and Old English sċēat (“a corner, angle”); all from Proto-Germanic *skautijǭ, *skautaz (“corner, wedge, lap”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewd- (“to throw, shoot, pursue, rush”).
Cognate with North Frisian skut (“the fold of a garment, lap, coattail”), West Frisian skoat (“sheet; sail; lap”), Dutch schoot (“the fold of a garment, lap, sheet”), German Low German Schote (“a line from the foot of a sail”), German Schoß (“the fold of a garment, lap”), Danish skød (“lap, skirt”), Icelandic skaut (“the corner of a cloth, a line from the foot of a sail, the skirt or sleeve of a garment, a hood”), Norwegian skaut (“headdress”), Swedish sköt (“sheet”).

## Easily confused with
- **shit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-shit)
- **shot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-shot)
- **shut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-shut)
- **shoe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-shoe)
- **Shen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-shen)
- **shep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-shep)
- **Shem** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-shem)
- **Shek** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-shek)
- **short** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-short)
- **sleep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-sleep)
- **spent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-spent)
- **speed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-speed)
- **sweet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-sweet)
- **shoot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-shoot)
- **steel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-steel)
- **shoes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-shoes)
- **shirt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-shirt)
- **shift** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-shift)
- **shell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-shell)
- **slept** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sheet-vs-slept)

## Common misspellings (7)
`hseet`, `sehet`, `sheett`, `shet`, `shete`, `shheet`, `ssheet`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/sheet