sleep
/sliːp/verb, noun
sleep is spelled S-L-E-E-P: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 112 times per million words in written English, the 951st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, sleep means “To rest in a state of reduced consciousness” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in sleep?
| Letters | 5: S-L-E-E-P |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 112 times per million words; the 951st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is sleep?
Sleep appears 112 times per million words in written English, the 951st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce sleep?
- /sliːp/
- British [slɪjp]
Sleep 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-us-sleep.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-sleep.wav, En-uk-to_sleep.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with sleep?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as sleep.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: speel.
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 sleep
- sleeps present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- sleeping participle, present
- slept participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sleep mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To rest in a state of reduced consciousness.
You should sleep eight hours a day.
- 2
To have sexual intercourse (see sleep with).
Last night we slept together for the first time.
- 3
To accommodate in beds.
This caravan can sleep four people comfortably.
- 4
To be careless, inattentive, or unconcerned; not to be vigilant; to live thoughtlessly.
- 5
To be dead.
- 6
To be, or appear to be, in repose; to be quiet; to be unemployed, unused, or unagitated; to rest; to lie dormant.
a question sleeps for the present; the law sleeps
- 7
To wait for a period of time without performing any action.
After a failed connection attempt, the program sleeps for 5 seconds before trying again.
- 8
To place into a state of hibernation.
noun
- 1
The state of reduced consciousness during which a human or animal rests in a daily rhythm.
I really need some sleep.
- 2
informalAn act or instance of sleeping.
I’m just going to have a quick sleep.
- 3
informalA night.
There are only three sleeps till Christmas!
- 4
Rheum, crusty or gummy discharge found in the corner of the eyes after waking, whether real or a figurative objectification of sleep (in the sense of reduced consciousness).
The part of the eyelid that is the location of the lacrimal caruncle, which produces rheum or "sleep," the gritty substance often present when awakening.
- 5
A state of plants, usually at night, when their leaflets approach each other and the flowers close and droop, or are covered by the folded leaves.
- 6
The hibernation of animals.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sleep in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | dormir , sommeil , chassie |
| German | schlafen, pennen, schlaaffe, schlooffe, schlofe, schlaafä |
| Portuguese | dormir , sono , remela, ramela |
| Spanish | dormir, jatear, sornar, apolillar, apolar, guindar |
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 sleep come from?
From Middle English slepen, from Anglian Old English slēpan (West Saxon Old English slǣpan), from Proto-West Germanic *slāpan, from Proto-Germanic *slēpaną (“to sleep”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).