slander
/ˈslɑːndə/
"slander" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“slander” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #18,695 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #18,695
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 18
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A false or unsupported, malicious statement (spoken, not written), especially one which is injurious to a person's reputation; the making of such a statement.
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 | slander |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈslɑːndə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #18,695 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 18 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “slander” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for slander is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈslɑːndə/. Corpus data places it at rank #18,695 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A false or unsupported, malicious statement (spoken, not written), especially one which is injurious to a person's reputation; the making of such a statement.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for slander, with forms such as "lsander", "salnder", and "sladner". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 18 confusable-pair relationships, "slater", "slayer", "slider", 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 slaundre, sclaundre, from Old French esclandre, from Ecclesiastical Latin scandalum (“stumbling block, temptation”), from Ancient Greek σκάνδαλον (skándalon, “scandal”). Doublet of scandal. The correct English form is slander, spelled S-L-A-N-D-E-R.
Definition
- 1A false or unsupported, malicious statement (spoken, not written), especially one which is injurious to a person's reputation; the making of such a statement.
Etymology
From Middle English slaundre, sclaundre, from Old French esclandre, from Ecclesiastical Latin scandalum (“stumbling block, temptation”), from Ancient Greek σκάνδαλον (skándalon, “scandal”). Doublet of scandal.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: lsander,salnder,sladner,slandder,slanderr,slandre,slanedr,slannder,sllander,slnader,sslander
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of slander - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “slander”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-L-A-N-D-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈslɑːndə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “slater” - see the side-by-side comparison. slander vs slater
- 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.