Shinto
/ˈʃɪn.təʊ/
"shinto" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Shinto” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #46,175 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #46,175
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Formerly the state religion of Japan, a type of animism involving the worship of ancestors and nature spirits.
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 | Shinto |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈʃɪn.təʊ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #46,175 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Shinto” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Shinto is 6 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈʃɪn.təʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #46,175 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Formerly the state religion of Japan, a type of animism involving the worship of ancestors and nature spirits.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for Shinto, with forms such as "hsinto", "shhinto", and "shinnto". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "shit", "shirt", "shiny", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowing from Japanese 神道 (Shintō), from Middle Chinese 神道 (MC zyin dawX, “ways of the gods”), ultimately from Old Chinese 神道 (OC *hlin l'uːʔ, “ways [doings] of Heaven [in matters of fortune or fate]”). The correct English form is Shinto, spelled S-H-I-N-T-O.
Definition
- 1Formerly the state religion of Japan, a type of animism involving the worship of ancestors and nature spirits.
Etymology
Borrowing from Japanese 神道 (Shintō), from Middle Chinese 神道 (MC zyin dawX, “ways of the gods”), ultimately from Old Chinese 神道 (OC *hlin l'uːʔ, “ways [doings] of Heaven [in matters of fortune or fate]”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hsinto,shhinto,shinnto,shinot,shintto,shitno,shnito,sihnto,sshinto
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Shinto - 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 "Shinto"?
What does "Shinto" mean?
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Using “Shinto”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-H-I-N-T-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈʃɪn.təʊ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “shit” - see the side-by-side comparison. Shinto vs shit
- 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.