short-distance

adj

"short-distance" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“short-distance” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Relating to travel between places relatively close together.

Key facts for short-distance
PropertyValue
Headwordshort-distance
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “short-distance” sits in English frequency

short-distance falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

short-distance is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Relating to travel between places relatively close together.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for short-distance, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is short-distance, spelled S-H-O-R-T---D-I-S-T-A-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Relating to travel between places relatively close together.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "short-distance"?
"short-distance" is spelled S-H-O-R-T---D-I-S-T-A-N-C-E.
What does "short-distance" mean?
As an adjective, "short-distance" means: Relating to travel between places relatively close together.
What language does "short-distance" come from?
"short-distance" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Using “short-distance”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is S-H-O-R-T---D-I-S-T-A-N-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list