Which to use
“shut” and “sit” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,005
- “shut” frequency rank
- #19,990
- “sit” frequency rank
- 60995
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shut | sit |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Refermer, fermer ce qui était ouvert, fermer. | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de seoir. |
Letter map: shut vs sit
Shared letters muted; letters that set shut and sit apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Spelling & dictionary notes on shut vs sit
shut and sit are indexed as a confusable French pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60995, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shut is recorded at frequency rank #41,005, classified as averb. sit is at rank #19,990, tagged as averb, pronounced \si\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 60995, this pair ranks #94,644 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shut vs sit
Shared letters: st. Private to "shut": hu. Private to "sit": i.
"shut" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "sit" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- shut ← hsut · shhut · shtu · shutt · sshut · suht
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "shut" and "sit" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "shut" vs "sit" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pair "shut" vs "sit" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "shut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #94,644 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shut" and "sit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shut vs suu". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #94,644 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.