sibling
/ˈsɪb.lɪŋ/
"sibling" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sibling” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #12,857 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #12,857
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A person who shares a parent; one's brother or sister who one shares a parent with.
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 | sibling |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɪb.lɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #12,857 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sibling” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sibling is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɪb.lɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,857 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for sibling, with forms such as "isbling", "sbiling", and "sibbling". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "sling", "siding", "sizing", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: First use appears c. 1903, a modern revival of Old English sibling (“relative, a relation, kinsman”), equivalent to sib + -ling. Compare Middle English siblynges pl, sib, sibbe (“relative; kinsman”), German Sippe. The term apparently meant merely kin or rel… The correct English form is sibling, spelled S-I-B-L-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1A person who shares a parent; one's brother or sister who one shares a parent with.
- 2A node in a data structure that shares its parent with another node.
- 3The most closely related species, or one of several most closely related species when none can be determined to be more closely related.
Etymology
First use appears c. 1903, a modern revival of Old English sibling (“relative, a relation, kinsman”), equivalent to sib + -ling. Compare Middle English siblynges pl, sib, sibbe (“relative; kinsman”), German Sippe. The term apparently meant merely kin or relative until the 20th century when it was applied in a way that aided the study of genetics, which led to its specialized use. For example, the OED has a citation in 1902 in which sibling must be defined for those who do not know the intended meaning.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: isbling,sbiling,sibbling,sibilng,siblign,siblingg,siblinng,siblling,siblnig,silbing,ssibling
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sibling - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "sibling"?
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Using “sibling”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-I-B-L-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsɪb.lɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “sling” - see the side-by-side comparison. sibling vs sling
- 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.