sitting
/ˈsɪtɪŋ/
"sitting" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sitting” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,469 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,469
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A period during which one is seated for a specific purpose.
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 | sitting |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɪtɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #1,469 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sitting” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sitting is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɪtɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,469 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for sitting, with forms such as "istting", "sititng", and "sittign". 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, "sting", "string", "sizing", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sittyng, sittynge, equivalent to sit + -ing. Cognate with Dutch zitting (“a sitting, session”), German Sitzung (“a sitting, session”), Swedish sittning (“a sitting, session”). The correct English form is sitting, spelled S-I-T-T-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1A period during which one is seated for a specific purpose.
- 2A seance or other session with a medium or fortuneteller.
- 3A special seat allotted to a seat-holder, at church, etc.
- 4The part of the year in which judicial business is transacted.
- 5A legislative session (in the sense of meeting, and not period).
- 6The incubation of eggs by a bird.
- 7A clutch of eggs laid by a brooding bird.
- 8An uninterrupted application to anything for a time; the period during which one continues at anything.
Etymology
From Middle English sittyng, sittynge, equivalent to sit + -ing. Cognate with Dutch zitting (“a sitting, session”), German Sitzung (“a sitting, session”), Swedish sittning (“a sitting, session”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: istting,sititng,sittign,sittingg,sittinng,sittnig,ssitting,stiting
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sitting - 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.
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 “sitting”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-I-T-T-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsɪtɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “sting” - see the side-by-side comparison. sitting vs sting
- 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.