sleepy
/ˈsliːpi/
"sleepy" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sleepy” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #11,608 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #11,608
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 19
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Tired; feeling the need for sleep.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sleepy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈsliːpi/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #11,608 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 19 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sleepy” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sleepy is 6 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsliːpi/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,608 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for sleepy, with forms such as "lseepy", "selepy", and "sleeppy". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 19 confusable-pair relationships, "slept", "steep", "sweep", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *slēpaz Proto-West Germanic *slāp Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Proto-West Germanic *slāpag Old English *slǣpiġ Middle English slepy English sleepy From Middle English slepy, from Old En… The correct English form is sleepy, spelled S-L-E-E-P-Y.
Definition
- 1Tired; feeling the need for sleep.
- 2Suggesting tiredness.
- 3Tending to induce sleep.
- 4Dull; lazy.
- 5Quiet; without bustle or activity.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *slēpaz Proto-West Germanic *slāp Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Proto-West Germanic *slāpag Old English *slǣpiġ Middle English slepy English sleepy From Middle English slepy, from Old English *slǣpiġ (attested in unslǣpiġ (“sleepless”)), from Proto-West Germanic *slāpag (“sleepy”), equivalent to sleep + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian släipich (“sleepy”), West Frisian sliepich (“sleepy”), dialectal Dutch slapig, slepig (“sleepy”), German Low German slapig, släpig, slöpig (“sleepy”), archaic German schlafig (“sleepy”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: lseepy,selepy,sleeppy,sleepyy,sleeyp,slepey,slepy,slleepy,ssleepy
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sleepy - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "sleepy"?
What does "sleepy" mean?
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Using “sleepy”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-L-E-E-P-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsliːpi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “slept” - see the side-by-side comparison. sleepy vs slept
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.