sixth
/sɪksθ/
"sixth" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sixth” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,785 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #3,785
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The ordinal form of the number six.
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 | sixth |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /sɪksθ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #3,785 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sixth” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sixth is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /sɪksθ/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,785 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "The ordinal form of the number six.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for sixth, with forms such as "isxth", "sitxh", and "sixht". 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, "sth", "south", "smith", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From earlier sixt, from Middle English sixte, from Old English siexta, from Proto-Germanic *sehstô. By surface analysis, six + -th (ordinal suffix). The correct English form is sixth, spelled S-I-X-T-H.
Definition
- 1The ordinal form of the number six.
Etymology
From earlier sixt, from Middle English sixte, from Old English siexta, from Proto-Germanic *sehstô. By surface analysis, six + -th (ordinal suffix).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: isxth,sitxh,sixht,sixthh,sixtth,sixxth,ssixth,sxith
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sixth - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “sixth”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-I-X-T-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /sɪksθ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “sth” - see the side-by-side comparison. sixth vs sth
- 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.