minesweeper

/ˈmaɪnˌswipɚ/

//ˈmaɪnˌswipɚ// noun

"minesweeper" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“minesweeper” is uncommon English (frequency #67,651 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#67,651
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A vehicle, device or person with the purpose of removing explosive mines (landmines or water mines).

Corpus desk

Index EN-minesweeper · minesweeper · English

minesweeper · rank #67,651 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #67,651
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH Minnetonka

Nearest frequency peer: Minnetonka (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “minesweeper”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “minesweeper” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for minesweeper
PropertyValue
Headwordminesweeper
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈmaɪnˌswipɚ/
Letters11
Frequency rank#67,651
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “minesweeper” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).minesweeperfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “Minnetonka” (#67,652), “miscegenation” (#67,653), “midyear” (#67,648). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “minesweeper” is #67,651. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

minesweeper is uncommon English at frequency #67,651 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈmaɪnˌswipɚ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for minesweeper, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From mine + sweeper. The correct English form is minesweeper, spelled M-I-N-E-S-W-E-E-P-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    A vehicle, device or person with the purpose of removing explosive mines (landmines or water mines).
  2. 2
    A logic-based computer game in which the player has to discover the position of mines in a rectangular grid, based on numerical hints.

Etymology

From mine + sweeper.

This word in other languages

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

How do you spell "minesweeper"?
"minesweeper" is spelled M-I-N-E-S-W-E-E-P-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈmaɪnˌswipɚ/.
What does "minesweeper" mean?
As a noun, "minesweeper" means: A vehicle, device or person with the purpose of removing explosive mines (landmines or water mines).
How do you pronounce "minesweeper"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "minesweeper" is /ˈmaɪnˌswipɚ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "minesweeper"?
From mine + sweeper. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "minesweeper", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list