shitvssiteWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: shit is a adjective, site is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“shit” is an adjective and “site” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,229
“shit” frequency rank
#301
“site” frequency rank
36530
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shit site
Definition de merda, vagabundo, de péssima qualidade ver saite, sítio

Where the eye mixes shit and site

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
shit
4 ch
site

Why the eye confuses shit with site

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: shit is /ʃɪt/ while site is /ˈsaj.ʧi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36530, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

shit is recorded at frequency rank #36,229, classified as anadj, pronounced /ʃɪt/. site is at rank #301, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsaj.ʧi/.

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 36530, this pair ranks #30,261 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of shit vs site

Shared letters: ist. Private to "shit": h. Private to "site": e.

"shit" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "site" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • shithsit · shhit · shitt · shti · siht · sshit
  • siteiste · siet · sitte · ssite · stie

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "shit" and "site" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "shit" is an adjective and "site" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "shit" or "site"?
"site" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #301 in our Portuguese list, against #36,229 for "shit". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "shit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "site" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,261 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "shit" and "site" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shit vs slip". 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 #30,261 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list