silver
/ˈsɪl.və/
"silver" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“silver” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,648 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,648
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A lustrous, white, metallic element, atomic number 47, atomic weight 107.87, symbol Ag.
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 | silver |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɪl.və/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #1,648 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “silver” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for silver is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɪl.və/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,648 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for silver, with forms such as "islver", "silevr", and "sillver". 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, "solve", "sister", "singer", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English silver, selver, sulver, from Old English seolfor, from Proto-West Germanic *silubr, from Proto-Germanic *silubrą (“silver”), of uncertain origin. cognates and etymology discussion Cognate with Scots siller (“silver”), Saterland Frisian S… The correct English form is silver, spelled S-I-L-V-E-R.
Definition
- 1A lustrous, white, metallic element, atomic number 47, atomic weight 107.87, symbol Ag.
- 2Coins made from silver or any similar white metal.
- 3Cutlery and other eating utensils, whether silver or made from some other white metal.
- 4Any items made from silver or any other white metal.
- 5A shiny gray color.
- 6a silver medal
- 7Anything resembling silver; something shiny and white.
Etymology
From Middle English silver, selver, sulver, from Old English seolfor, from Proto-West Germanic *silubr, from Proto-Germanic *silubrą (“silver”), of uncertain origin. cognates and etymology discussion Cognate with Scots siller (“silver”), Saterland Frisian Säälwer (“silver”), West Frisian sulver (“silver”), Dutch zilver (“silver”), German Low German Silver, Sülver (“silver”), German Silber (“silver”), Swedish silver (“silver”), Icelandic silfur (“silver”). The Germanic word has parallels in Baltic and Slavic (Old Church Slavonic сьрєбро (sĭrebro), Lithuanian sidabras), Celtic (Celtiberian silaPur-), and outside Indo-European, in Basque zilar and Proto-Berber *a-ẓrəf, but the ultimate origin of the word is unknown. Adjective sense of twenty-fifth wedding anniversary generalized from silver wedding, from German Silberhochzeit, silberne Hochzeit.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: islver,silevr,sillver,silverr,silvre,silvver,sivler,ssilver
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of silver - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
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Using “silver”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-I-L-V-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsɪl.və/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “solve” - see the side-by-side comparison. silver vs solve
- 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.