shift
/ʃɪft/
"shift" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shift” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,644 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,644
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A movement to do something, a beginning.
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 | shift |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ʃɪft/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #2,644 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “shift” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for shift is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ʃɪft/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,644 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 21 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for shift, with forms such as "hsift", "shfit", and "shhift". 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, "sit", "Sif", "shit", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: The noun is from Middle English schyft, shyffte. Cognate with German Schicht (“layer, shift”). The verb is from Middle English schiften, from Old English sċiftan (“to divide, separate into shares; appoint, ordain; arrange, organise”), from Proto-Germanic *s… The correct English form is shift, spelled S-H-I-F-T.
Definition
- 1A movement to do something, a beginning.
- 2An act of shifting; a slight movement or change.
- 3A share, a portion assigned on division.
- 4A type of women's undergarment of dress length worn under dresses or skirts, a slip or chemise.
- 5A simple straight-hanging, loose-fitting dress.
- 6A change of workers, now specifically a set group of workers or period of working time.
- 7The gear mechanism in a motor vehicle.
- 8Alternative spelling of Shift (“a modifier button of computer keyboards”).
- 9A control code or character used to change between different character sets.
- 10A control code or character used to change between different character sets.
- 11A bit shift.
- 12An infield shift.
- 13The act of kissing passionately.
- 14A contrivance, a device to try when other methods fail.
- 15A trick, an artifice.
- 16The extent, or arrangement, of the overlapping of plank, brick, stones, etc., that are placed in courses so as to break joints.
- 17A breaking off and dislocation of a seam; a fault.
- 18A mutation in which the DNA or RNA from two different sources (such as viruses or bacteria) combine.
- 19In violin-playing, any position of the left hand except that nearest the nut.
- 20A period of time in which one's consciousness resides in another reality, usually achieved through meditation or other means.
- 21be done; ruined
Etymology
The noun is from Middle English schyft, shyffte. Cognate with German Schicht (“layer, shift”). The verb is from Middle English schiften, from Old English sċiftan (“to divide, separate into shares; appoint, ordain; arrange, organise”), from Proto-Germanic *skiftijaną, *skiptijaną, from earlier *skipatjaną (“to organise, put in order”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeyb- (“to separate, divide, part”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to cut, divide, separate, part”). Cognate with Scots schift, skift (“to shift”), West Frisian skifte, skiftsje (“to sort”), Dutch schiften (“to sort, screen, winnow, part”), German schichten (“to stack, layer”), Swedish skifta (“to shift, change, exchange, vary”), Norwegian skifte (“to shift”), Icelandic skipta (“to switch”). See ship.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hsift,shfit,shhift,shifft,shiftt,shitf,sihft,sshift
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of shift - 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
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Using “shift”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-H-I-F-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ʃɪft/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “sit” - see the side-by-side comparison. shift vs sit
- 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.