slab

/slæb/

//slæb// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"slab" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“slab” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #15,277 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#15,277
frequency rank, English
4
letters
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A large, flat piece of solid material; a solid object that is large and flat.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

slab vs sub
50% similar
slab vs spa
50% similar
slab vs sly
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for slab
PropertyValue
Headwordslab
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/slæb/
Letters4
Frequency rank#15,277
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “slab” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). slab lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for slab is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /slæb/. Corpus data places it at rank #15,277 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for slab, with forms such as "lsab", "salb", and "slabb". 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, "sub", "spa", "sly", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sclabbe, slabbe, of uncertain origin; possibly from *slap, related to dialectal slappel (“portion, piece”), along with slape (“slippery”), sleip (“smooth piece of timber”), borrowed through Old Norse sleipr from Proto-Germanic *slaipaz, … The correct English form is slab, spelled S-L-A-B.

Definition

  1. 1
    A large, flat piece of solid material; a solid object that is large and flat.
  2. 2
    A paving stone; a flagstone.
  3. 3
    A carton containing 24 cans (chiefly of beer).
  4. 4
    An outside piece taken from a log or timber when sawing it into boards, planks, etc.
  5. 5
    The slack part of a sail.
  6. 6
    A very large wave.
  7. 7
    The amount by which a cache can grow or shrink, used in memory allocation.
  8. 8
    Part of a tectonic plate that is being, or has been, subducted.
  9. 9
    A poured-concrete foundation for a building.
  10. 10
    A region between two parallel lines in the Euclidean plane, or between two parallel planes in three-dimensional Euclidean space, or between two hyperplanes in higher dimensions.
  11. 11
    Any of the several portions or tiers in a tax rate plan.
  12. 12
    A flat, sealed plastic case that encloses a flat collector's item, such as a coin or a trading card.
  13. 13
    A large, luxury pre-1980 General Motors vehicle, particularly a Buick, Oldsmobile, or Cadillac.
  14. 14
    Ellipsis of slab avalanche.

Etymology

From Middle English sclabbe, slabbe, of uncertain origin; possibly from *slap, related to dialectal slappel (“portion, piece”), along with slape (“slippery”), sleip (“smooth piece of timber”), borrowed through Old Norse sleipr from Proto-Germanic *slaipaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leyb-. See also Norwegian sleip (“slippery”) and Icelandic sleipur.

This word in other languages

plancha(Español)chape(Français)Scheibe(Deutsch)laje(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: lsab,salb,slabb,slba,sllab,sslab

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of slab - 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.

lsab2salb2slabb1slba2sllab1sslab1
Edit distance from "slab"

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 "slab"?
"slab" is spelled S-L-A-B. The IPA pronunciation is /slæb/.
What does "slab" mean?
As a noun, "slab" means: A large, flat piece of solid material; a solid object that is large and flat.
What words are commonly confused with "slab"?
"slab" is commonly confused with "sub", "spa", "sly". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "slab"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "slab" is /slæb/. 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 "slab"?
From Middle English sclabbe, slabbe, of uncertain origin; possibly from *slap, related to dialectal slappel (“portion, piece”), along with slape (“slippery”), sleip (“smooth piece of timber”), borrowed through Old Norse sleipr from Proto-Germanic ... 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.

Using “slab”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is S-L-A-B - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /slæb/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “sub” - see the side-by-side comparison. slab vs sub
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list