ship

Name: ship, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

/ʃɪp/

//ʃɪp// noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed May 6, 2026

The verdict

“ship” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,254. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,254
frequency rank, English: 54,294
“S” headwords: 6
tracked misspellings: 20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A water-borne vessel generally larger than a boat.

Corpus desk

Index EN-ship · ship · English

ship · rank #1,254 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

FREQ-COMMON #1,254
LEN-MID 4 letters
VOW-1 1 vowel
CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
VAR-MID 6 variants
BOOK-DENSE 54,294
PHOTO-FINISH Russia

Nearest frequency peer: Russia (-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.

none

98,750
reasons

98,749
Russia

98,748
ship

98,747
stock

98,746
trump

98,745

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

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

ship vs SI

0% similar

ship vs SP

0% similar

ship vs six

50% similar

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

Key facts for ship
Property	Value
Headword	ship
Language	English
Part of speech	Noun
IPA	/ʃɪp/
Letters	4
Frequency rank	#1,254
Misspellings tracked	6
Confusable pairs	20
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “ship” 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). ship lands here:

#1,254

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around ship (IPA /ʃɪp/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,254 among 54,294 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for ship, with forms such as "hsip", "shhip", and "shipp". 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, "SI", "SP", "six", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sek-? Proto-Indo-European *-éyti Proto-Indo-European *skey-der.? Proto-Germanic *skipą Proto-West Germanic *skip Old English scip Middle English schip English ship From Middle English ship, schip, from Old English sċip, f… The correct English form is ship, spelled S-H-I-P.

Definition

1
A water-borne vessel generally larger than a boat.
2
A vessel which travels through any medium other than across land, such as an airship or spaceship.
3
A spaceship.
4
A particular still life consisting of an empty cell surrounded by six live cells.
5
A sailing vessel with three or more square-rigged masts.
6
A dish or utensil (originally fashioned like the hull of a ship) used to hold incense.
7
The third card of the Lenormand deck.
8
An aircraft.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

I don't know if there is another standard method, but the following approach works: Consider the collision of gliders from three rakes that produces a medium spaceship in the _same_ direction as the rake. This ship will follow along to the next collision point, which will not produce a spaceship, but rather some stable garbage, consisting of a block and a…
Aside from the one ship in B3/S124 shown above, the only spaceships of this size (with period up to 20) in any of these rules are the Life glider and the three known from B2/ (each of which also is found in some variants of the Life or B2/ rules).

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sek-? Proto-Indo-European *-éyti Proto-Indo-European *skey-der.? Proto-Germanic *skipą Proto-West Germanic *skip Old English scip Middle English schip English ship From Middle English ship, schip, from Old English sċip, from Proto-West Germanic *skip, from Proto-Germanic *skipą, from Proto-Indo-European *skēyb-, *skib-. More at shift. Cognates Cognate with West Frisian skip, Dutch schip, German Schiff, Yiddish שיף (shif), Danish skib, Norwegian skip, Swedish skepp. Related also to Lithuanian skiẽbti (“to rip up”), Latvian škibît (“to cut, lop”). Compare typologically boat, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd-.

This word in other languages

barco(Español)vaisseau(Français)Schiff(Deutsch)navio(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

hsip
shhip
shipp
shpi
sihp
sship

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ship - 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.

Edit distance from "ship"

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.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ship"?

"ship" is spelled S-H-I-P. The IPA pronunciation is /ʃɪp/.

What does "ship" mean?

As a noun, "ship" means: A water-borne vessel generally larger than a boat.

What words are commonly confused with "ship"?

"ship" is commonly confused with "SI", "SP", "six". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.

How do you pronounce "ship"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ship" is /ʃɪp/. 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 "ship"?

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 "ship", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

none#1,251 band#1,262 cash#1,264 lack#1,274

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

Russia6 variants ended6 variants image6 variants hurt6 variants

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.