sistervssitterWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“sister” and “sitter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#33,012
“sister” frequency rank
#31,739
“sitter” frequency rank
64751
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sister sitter
Definition Sœur (dans un sens moral, et dans un contexte de personnes anglophones). Modèle, sujet, personne posant pour un portrait.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sister and sitter apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
sister
6 ch
sitter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. sister (\sis.tœʁ\) and sitter (\ˈsɪ.tə\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - s in “sister” becomes t in “sitter”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64751, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sister is recorded at frequency rank #33,012, classified as anoun, pronounced \sis.tœʁ\. sitter is at rank #31,739, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈsɪ.tə\.

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 64751, this pair ranks #75,519 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sister vs sitter

Shared letters: eirst. Private to "sister": -. Private to "sitter": -.

"sister" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "sitter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sisterisster · sisetr · sisster · sisterr · sistre · sistter · sitser · ssister
  • sitteristter · siter · sitetr · sitterr · sittre · ssitter · stiter

Frequency comparison

sister#33,012
sitter#31,739

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sister" and "sitter" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sis.tœʁ\ versus \ˈsɪ.tə\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sister" or "sitter"?
"sitter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,739 in our French list, against #33,012 for "sister". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering sister vs sitter

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sister” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list