shortest
/ˈʃɔːtɪst/
"shortest" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shortest” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,609 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #13,609
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - superlative form of short: most short; Least in stature, length or height.
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 | shortest |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈʃɔːtɪst/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #13,609 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “shortest” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for shortest is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈʃɔːtɪst/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,609 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "superlative form of short: most short; Least in stature, length or height.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for shortest, with forms such as "hsortest", "shhortest", and "shoretst". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "shorts", "shortlist", "shortness", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is shortest, spelled S-H-O-R-T-E-S-T.
Definition
- 1superlative form of short: most short; Least in stature, length or height.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hsortest,shhortest,shoretst,shorrtest,shortesst,shortestt,shortets,shortset,shorttest,shotrest,shrotest,sohrtest,sshortest
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of shortest - 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 “shortest”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-H-O-R-T-E-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈʃɔːtɪst/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “shorts” - see the side-by-side comparison. shortest vs shorts
- 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.