sitter
/ˈsɪtə/
"sitter" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sitter” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #23,100 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #23,100
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Someone who sits, e.g. for a portrait.
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 | sitter |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɪtə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #23,100 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sitter” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sitter is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɪtə/. Corpus data places it at rank #23,100 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for sitter, with forms such as "istter", "siter", and "sitetr". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "steer", "slater", "skater", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sitter, sittere, syttare, equivalent to sit + -er. The correct English form is sitter, spelled S-I-T-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1Someone who sits, e.g. for a portrait.
- 2One employed to watch or tend something; a babysitter, housesitter, petsitter, etc.
- 3A sitting room.
- 4A participant in a séance.
- 5A broody hen.
- 6A very easy scoring chance.
- 7Someone who accompanies a person who is taking a psychedelic drug, to provide reassurance in case of a bad trip.
Etymology
From Middle English sitter, sittere, syttare, equivalent to sit + -er.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: istter,siter,sitetr,sitterr,sittre,ssitter,stiter
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sitter - 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.
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 “sitter”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-I-T-T-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsɪtə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “steer” - see the side-by-side comparison. sitter vs steer
- 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.