sleepwalk
verb
sleepwalk is spelled S-L-E-E-P-W-A-L-K: 9 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 85,266th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, sleepwalk means “To walk or perform other actions while sleeping; to somnambulate” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in sleepwalk?
| Letters | 9: S-L-E-E-P-W-A-L-K |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 8 million words; the 85,266th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is sleepwalk?
Sleepwalk appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 85,266th 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 sleepwalk?
- US
Sleepwalk has 2 syllables (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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-sleepwalk.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of sleepwalk
- sleepwalks present, singular, he/she/it
- sleepwalking participle, present
- sleepwalked participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sleepwalk mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To walk or perform other actions while sleeping; to somnambulate.
- 2
To perform actions without being aware of them; to do something that invites certain results without confronting that possibility.
The government is sleepwalking into a crisis.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does sleepwalk come from?
From sleep + walk.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).