shortness

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

noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed September 3, 2026

The verdict

“shortness” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #33,846. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#33,846
frequency rank, English: 6,566
“S” headwords: 13
tracked misspellings: 5
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The property of being short, of being small of stature or brief.

Corpus desk

Index EN-shortness · shortness · English

shortness · rank #33,846 · 13 variants · 5 confusables

FREQ-MID #33,846
LEN-LONG 9 letters
VOW-2 2 vowels
CONFUS-MID 5 pairs
VAR-HIGH 13 variants
BOOK-DENSE 6,566
PHOTO-FINISH shopkeeper

Nearest frequency peer: shopkeeper (-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.

Shakespeare…

66,159
shaven

66,158
shiro

66,157
shopkeeper

66,156
shortness

66,155
shrill

66,154

What this shows “shortness” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

shortness vs soreness

78% similar

shortness vs softness

78% similar

shortness vs shortest

78% similar

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

Key facts for shortness
Property	Value
Headword	shortness
Language	English
Part of speech	Noun
Letters	9
Frequency rank	#33,846
Misspellings tracked	13
Confusable pairs	5
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “shortness”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).shortnesslands here:

#33,846

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

← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “shopkeeper” (#33,845), “shrill” (#33,847), “shiro” (#33,844). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “shortness” is #33,846. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around shortness, anoun. Corpus frequency is #33,846 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for shortness, with forms such as "hsortness", "shhortness", and "shorntess". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "soreness", "softness", "shortest", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English schortnesse, from Old English sċortnes, sċeortnys, equivalent to short + -ness. The correct English form is shortness, spelled S-H-O-R-T-N-E-S-S.

Definition

1
The property of being short, of being small of stature or brief.
2
The result or product of being short.
3
The property of being short or terse.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

the shortness of a stubby pencil
the patient's shortness of breath

Etymology

From Middle English schortnesse, from Old English sċortnes, sċeortnys, equivalent to short + -ness.

This word in other languages

cortedad(Español)exiguïté(Français)Kürze(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

hsortness
shhortness
shorntess
shorrtness
shortenss
shortnes
shortnness
shortnses
shorttness
shotrness
shrotness
sohrtness
sshortness

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of shortness - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

Edit distance from "shortness"

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 "shortness"?

"shortness" is spelled S-H-O-R-T-N-E-S-S.

What does "shortness" mean?

As a noun, "shortness" means: The property of being short, of being small of stature or brief.

What words are commonly confused with "shortness"?

"shortness" is commonly confused with "soreness", "softness", "shortest". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.

What is the origin of the word "shortness"?

From Middle English schortnesse, from Old English sċortnes, sċeortnys, equivalent to short + -ness. See the full etymology section above for more details.

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 "shortness", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

sculpting#33,839 statesmen#33,859 strongman#33,862 telepathy#33,876

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

syringes13 variants thesaurus13 variants porcupine13 variants patently13 variants