simmer
/ˈsɪmɚ/
"simmer" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“simmer” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #20,499 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #20,499
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To cook or undergo heating slowly at or below the boiling point.
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 | simmer |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈsɪmɚ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #20,499 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “simmer” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for simmer is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɪmɚ/. Corpus data places it at rank #20,499 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for simmer, with forms such as "ismmer", "simemr", and "simer". 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, "Simms", "Somme", "summer", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From alteration of dialectal simper, from Middle English simperen (“to simmer”), of possibly imitative origin. First attested in the intransitive sense. The noun is from the verb. First attested in the late 15ᵗʰ century. The correct English form is simmer, spelled S-I-M-M-E-R.
Definition
- 1To cook or undergo heating slowly at or below the boiling point.
- 2To cause to cook or to cause to undergo heating slowly at or below the boiling point.
- 3To be on the point of breaking out into anger; to be agitated.
- 4To remain angry with someone or something past the point of exhaustion; to resign oneself to holding a grudge, especially after some failed attempts to resolve a situation.
- 5To develop gradually, of an idea or plan.
Etymology
From alteration of dialectal simper, from Middle English simperen (“to simmer”), of possibly imitative origin. First attested in the intransitive sense. The noun is from the verb. First attested in the late 15ᵗʰ century.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ismmer,simemr,simer,simmerr,simmre,smimer,ssimmer
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of simmer - 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
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Using “simmer”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-I-M-M-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsɪmɚ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Simms” - see the side-by-side comparison. simmer vs Simms
- 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.