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sleeper

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

7 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "sleeper", 7-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "sleeper" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "sleeper" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

sleeper is aEnglishnoun. It means: Someone who sleeps. Pronounced /ˈsliːpə(ɹ)/. Often confused with sleeve and sleeps.

Key facts for sleeper
PropertyValue
Headwordsleeper
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈsliːpə(ɹ)/
Letters7
Frequency rank#15,911
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs12
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of sleeper in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for sleeper is 7 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsliːpə(ɹ)/. Corpus data places it at rank #15,911 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 Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 10 documented wrong-spelling variants for sleeper, with forms such as "lseeper", "seleper", and "sleeepr". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "sleeve", "sleeps", "sleepy", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sleper, equivalent to sleep + -er. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is sleeper, spelled S-L-E-E-P-E-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Someone who sleeps.
  2. 2
    That which lies dormant, as a law.
  3. 3
    A spy, saboteur, or terrorist who lives unobtrusively in a community until activated by a prearranged signal; may be part of a sleeper cell.
  4. 4
    A small starter earring, worn to prevent a piercing from closing.
  5. 5
    A railway sleeping car.
  6. 6
    A sleeper hold.
  7. 7
    Something that achieves unexpected success after an interval of time.
  8. 8
    Any of family Odontobutidae of goby-like bottom-feeding freshwater fish.
  9. 9
    A nurse shark (family Ginglymostomatidae).
  10. 10
    A type of pajama for a person, especially a child, that covers the whole body, including the feet.
  11. 11
    An automobile which has been internally modified to excess, while retaining a mostly stock appearance in order to fool opponents in a drag race, or to avoid the attention of the police.
  12. 12
    A sedative.
  13. 13
    A bet placed on the gambling table and then forgotten about by the gambler.
  14. 14
    A pod or similar device containing a person in cryosleep.

Etymology

From Middle English sleper, equivalent to sleep + -er.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: lseeper,seleper,sleeepr,sleeperr,sleepper,sleepre,slepeer,sleper,slleeper,ssleeper

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for sleeper

Misspelling Variants of "sleeper"

lseeper7seleper7sleeepr7sleeperr8sleepper8sleepre7slepeer7sleper6
Misspelling Variants of "sleeper"

Frequency rank: #15,911 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "sleeper"?
"sleeper" is spelled S-L-E-E-P-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈsliːpə(ɹ)/.
What does "sleeper" mean?
As a noun, "sleeper" means: Someone who sleeps.
What words are commonly confused with "sleeper"?
"sleeper" is commonly confused with "sleeve", "sleeps", "sleepy". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "sleeper"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sleeper" is /ˈsliːpə(ɹ)/. 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 "sleeper"?
From Middle English sleper, equivalent to sleep + -er. 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.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter S in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.