sighting
/ˈsaɪtɪŋ/noun, verb
sighting is spelled S-I-G-H-T-I-N-G: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,589th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sighting means “An instance of catching sight of something, especially something searched for” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sighting is sightings.
How many letters and syllables are in sighting?
| Letters | 8: S-I-G-H-T-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.0 times per million words; the 19,589th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is sighting?
Sighting appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,589th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce sighting?
- /ˈsaɪtɪŋ/
Sighting has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-sighting.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with sighting
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: citing, siting (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of sighting
- sightings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sighting mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An instance of catching sight of something, especially something searched for.
There will be a small prize for the first sighting of a seal.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of sight
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sighting in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense act of catching sight of something, especially something searched for:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Sichtung |
| Spanish | avistamiento, avistaje |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.