slay

/sleɪ/

//sleɪ// verb

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

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

The verdict

“slay” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #18,433. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#18,433
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To kill; to murder.

Corpus desk

Index EN-slay · slay · English

slay · rank #18,433 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #18,433
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH slamming

Nearest frequency peer: slamming (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “slay”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “slay” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

slay vs Sy
25% similar
slay vs spy
50% similar
slay vs spa
50% similar

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

Key facts for slay
PropertyValue
Headwordslay
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/sleɪ/
Letters4
Frequency rank#18,433
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “slay”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).slaylands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “slamming” (#18,432), “Skye” (#18,431), “Spence” (#18,435). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “slay” is #18,433. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around slay (IPA /sleɪ/), averb. Corpus frequency is #18,433 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for slay, with forms such as "lsay", "slayy", and "sllay". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Sy", "spy", "spa", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English slayn, from Old English slēan (“to hit, punch, strike; to kill”), from Proto-West Germanic *slahan, from Proto-Germanic *slahaną (“to hit, strike; to kill”), from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, strike, throw”). Cognates Cognate wit… The correct English form is slay, spelled S-L-A-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    To kill; to murder.
  2. 2
    To eradicate or stamp out.
  3. 3
    To defeat; to overcome (in a competition or contest).
  4. 4
    To delight or overwhelm, especially with laughter.
  5. 5
    To amaze, stun, or otherwise incapacitate by excellence; to excel at something.
  6. 6
    To have sex with.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how slay appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The knight slew the dragon.
  2. Our foes must all be slain.

Etymology

From Middle English slayn, from Old English slēan (“to hit, punch, strike; to kill”), from Proto-West Germanic *slahan, from Proto-Germanic *slahaną (“to hit, strike; to kill”), from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, strike, throw”). Cognates Cognate with Alemannic German schlaa (“to beat, hit”), Central Franconian schlage, schlon, schloon (“to beat, hit, strike”), Dutch and Low German slaan (“to beat, hit, strike”), German schlagen, schlahen, schlahn (“to beat, hit, strike”), Luxembourgish schloen (“to beat, defeat, hit”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish slå (“to beat, hit, strike”), Faroese sláa (“to beat, strike”), Icelandic slá (“to hit, strike”), Gothic 𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (slahan, “to hit, smite, strike”). Related to slaughter, onslaught.

This word in other languages

matar(Español)tuer(Français)töten(Deutsch)matar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • lsay
  • slayy
  • sllay
  • slya
  • sslay

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

lsay2slayy1sllay1slya2sslay1
Edit distance from "slay"

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 "slay"?
"slay" is spelled S-L-A-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /sleɪ/.
What does "slay" mean?
As a verb, "slay" means: To kill; to murder.
What words are commonly confused with "slay"?
"slay" is commonly confused with "Sy", "spy", "spa". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "slay"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "slay" is /sleɪ/. 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 "slay"?
From Middle English slayn, from Old English slēan (“to hit, punch, strike; to kill”), from Proto-West Germanic *slahan, from Proto-Germanic *slahaną (“to hit, strike; to kill”), from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, strike, throw”). Cognates C... 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "slay", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Skye#18,431Sikh#18,430Rowe#18,421wasp#18,459

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

oily5 variantsbard5 variantsHara5 variantsGrimm5 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list