sky
/skaɪ/noun, verb
sky is spelled S-K-Y: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 52 times per million words in written English, the 1,941st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Sky, the name). As a noun, sky means “The atmosphere above a given point, especially as visible from the surface of the Earth as the place where the sun, moon, stars, and clouds are seen” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sky is skies.
How many letters and syllables are in sky?
| Letters | 3: S-K-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 52 times per million words; the 1,941st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is sky?
Sky appears 52 times per million words in written English, the 1,941st most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Sky, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce sky?
- US /skaɪ/
Sky has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-sky.ogg, En-us-sky.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with sky
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: Skye (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: skye.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with sky?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as sky from its last stressed vowel (/aɪ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of sky
- skies plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- skie
- skying participle, present
- skied participle, past
- skyed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sky mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The atmosphere above a given point, especially as visible from the surface of the Earth as the place where the sun, moon, stars, and clouds are seen.
That year, a meteor fell from the sky.
- 2
With a descriptive word: the part of the sky which can be seen from a specific place or at a specific time; its climate, condition, etc.
I lay back under a warm Texas sky.
- 3
archaicUsually preceded by the: the abode of God or the gods, angels, the souls of deceased people, etc.; heaven; also, powers emanating from heaven.
This mortal has incurred the wrath of the skies.
- 4
Ellipsis of sky blue.
- 5
The set of all lightlike lines (or directions) passing through a given point in space-time.
- 6
informalobsoleterareIn an art gallery: the upper rows of pictures that cannot easily be seen; also, the place where such pictures are hung.
- 7
obsoleteA cloud.
- 8
UKobsoleteslangA disagreeable person; an enemy.
verb
- 1
informalTo drink (a beverage) from a container without one's lips touching the container.
- 2
datedinformalTo hang (a picture on exhibition) near the top of a wall, where it cannot easily be seen; (by extension) to put (something) in an undesirable place.
- 3
datedslangTo toss (something) upwards; specifically, to flip (a coin).
- 4
To clear (a high jump bar, hurdle, etc.) by a large margin.
- 5
To hit, kick, or throw (a ball) extremely high.
- 6
To miss a goal by kicking the ball over the crossbar.
- 7
obsoleteTo raise (the price of an item on auction, or the level of the bids generally) by bidding high.
- 8
To move quickly, as if by flying; to fly; also, to escape, to flee (especially by airplane).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sky in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does sky come from?
The noun is derived from Middle English sky (“sky; cloud; mist”), also spelled ski, skie, [and other forms], from Old Norse ský (“cloud”), from Proto-Germanic *skiwją (“cloud; sky”), from *skiwô (“cloud; cloud cover, haze; sky”) (whence Old English sċēo (“cloud”) and Middle English skew (“air; sky; (rare) cloud”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover; to conceal, hide”). Partly displaced Old English heofon, which survives in the reflex heaven, still sometimes used in the sense of sky, but usually in high or poetic register. The verb is derived from the noun.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).