sleepwalk

verb

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

"sleepwalk" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“sleepwalk” is uncommon English (frequency #85,784 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#85,784
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To walk or perform other actions while sleeping; to somnambulate.

Corpus desk

Index EN-sleepwalk · sleepwalk · English

sleepwalk · rank #85,784 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #85,784
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH slipway

Nearest frequency peer: slipway (+2 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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “sleepwalk”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “sleepwalk” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for sleepwalk
PropertyValue
Headwordsleepwalk
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters9
Frequency rank#85,784
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “sleepwalk” sits in English frequency

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).sleepwalklands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “slipway” (#85,786), “skintight” (#85,781), “sines” (#85,779). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

sleepwalk is uncommon English at frequency #85,784 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for sleepwalk in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: From sleep + walk. The correct English form is sleepwalk, spelled S-L-E-E-P-W-A-L-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    To walk or perform other actions while sleeping; to somnambulate.
  2. 2
    To perform actions without being aware of them; to do something that invites certain results without confronting that possibility.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Government... unions... industry... we have had enough. We - no, YOU - are sleepwalking the rest of us towards a less busy, less relevant industry with a smaller workforce, fewer passengers, fading importance, declining investment, poorly-paid jobs, and a truly shambolic reputation.
  2. The government is sleepwalking into a crisis.

Etymology

From sleep + walk.

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 "sleepwalk"?
"sleepwalk" is spelled S-L-E-E-P-W-A-L-K.
What does "sleepwalk" mean?
As a verb, "sleepwalk" means: To walk or perform other actions while sleeping; to somnambulate.
What is the origin of the word "sleepwalk"?
From sleep + walk. 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 "sleepwalk", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

skintight#85,781spasmodic#85,799shambling#85,764sexualize#85,763

What to do next

You've looked up "sleepwalk". Here's where to go from here.

  • Usage frequency rank #85,784 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "S" letter cohort. S–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list