sieve

/sɪv/

//sɪv// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"sieve" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“sieve” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #29,084. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#29,084
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A device with a mesh, grate, or otherwise perforated bottom to separate, in a granular material, larger particles from smaller ones, or to separate solid objects from a liquid.

Corpus desk

Index EN-sieve · sieve · English

sieve · rank #29,084 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #29,084
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH shard

Nearest frequency peer: shard (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “sieve”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

sieve vs site
60% similar
sieve vs size
60% similar
sieve vs sire
60% similar

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

Key facts for sieve
PropertyValue
Headwordsieve
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/sɪv/
Letters5
Frequency rank#29,084
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “sieve”

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

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “shard” (#29,083), “signatories” (#29,085), “shalom” (#29,082). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “sieve” is #29,084. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around sieve (IPA /sɪv/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #29,084 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for sieve, with forms such as "iseve", "seive", and "sieev". 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, "site", "size", "sire", 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 sive, syfe, from Old English sife, from Proto-West Germanic *sibi (“sieve”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyp-, *seyb- (“to pour, sieve, strain, run, drip”). Akin to German Sieb, Dutch zeef, Proto-Slavic *sito (Russian си́то (síto), сев (s… The correct English form is sieve, spelled S-I-E-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A device with a mesh, grate, or otherwise perforated bottom to separate, in a granular material, larger particles from smaller ones, or to separate solid objects from a liquid.
  2. 2
    A process, physical or abstract, that arrives at a final result by filtering out unwanted pieces of input from a larger starting set of input.
  3. 3
    A kind of coarse basket.
  4. 4
    A person, or their mind, that cannot remember things or is unable to keep secrets.
  5. 5
    An intern who lets too many non-serious cases into the emergency room.
  6. 6
    A collection of morphisms in a category whose codomain is a certain fixed object of that category, which collection is closed under precomposition by any morphism in the category.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Near-synonyms: sifter, strainer, temse
  2. Use the sieve to get the pasta from the water.

Etymology

From Middle English sive, syfe, from Old English sife, from Proto-West Germanic *sibi (“sieve”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyp-, *seyb- (“to pour, sieve, strain, run, drip”). Akin to German Sieb, Dutch zeef, Proto-Slavic *sito (Russian си́то (síto), сев (sev), се́ять (séjatʹ)).

This word in other languages

cedazo(Español)tamis(Français)Sieb(Deutsch)peneira(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • iseve
  • seive
  • sieev
  • sievve
  • sivee
  • ssieve

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

iseve2seive2sieev2sievve1sivee2ssieve1
Edit distance from "sieve"

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 "sieve"?
"sieve" is spelled S-I-E-V-E. The IPA pronunciation is /sɪv/.
What does "sieve" mean?
As a noun, "sieve" means: A device with a mesh, grate, or otherwise perforated bottom to separate, in a granular material, larger particles from smaller ones, or to separate solid objects from a liquid.
What words are commonly confused with "sieve"?
"sieve" is commonly confused with "site", "size", "sire". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "sieve"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sieve" is /sɪv/. 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 "sieve"?
From Middle English sive, syfe, from Old English sife, from Proto-West Germanic *sibi (“sieve”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyp-, *seyb- (“to pour, sieve, strain, run, drip”). Akin to German Sieb, Dutch zeef, Proto-Slavic *sito (Russian си́то (sít... 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 "sieve", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

shard#29,083roost#29,070spore#29,101swain#29,112

Similar misspelling depth

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

Tania6 variantsWynne6 variantsyank6 variantsaloof6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list