shitting
/ˈʃɪtɪŋ/
"shitting" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shitting” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #17,242 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #17,242
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 18
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act of defecating.
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 | shitting |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈʃɪtɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #17,242 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 18 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “shitting” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for shitting is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈʃɪtɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #17,242 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "The act of defecating.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for shitting, with forms such as "hsitting", "shhitting", and "shiting". 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 18 confusable-pair relationships, "siting", "sitting", "sifting", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From shit + -ing. Compare Middle English schitinge, schytynge (“defecation”), whence modern English shiting. The correct English form is shitting, spelled S-H-I-T-T-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1The act of defecating.
Etymology
From shit + -ing. Compare Middle English schitinge, schytynge (“defecation”), whence modern English shiting.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hsitting,shhitting,shiting,shititng,shittign,shittingg,shittinng,shittnig,shtiting,sihtting,sshitting
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of shitting - 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 "shitting"?
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Using “shitting”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-H-I-T-T-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈʃɪtɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “siting” - see the side-by-side comparison. shitting vs siting
- 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.