sleet

/sliːt/

//sliːt// noun

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

"sleet" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“sleet” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #35,939. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#35,939
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Pellets of ice made of mostly-frozen raindrops or refrozen melted snowflakes.

Corpus desk

Index EN-sleet · sleet · English

sleet · rank #35,939 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #35,939
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH SLA

Nearest frequency peer: SLA (-1 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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “sleet”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “sleet” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

sleet vs slot
60% similar
sleet vs slut
60% similar
sleet vs slit
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for sleet
PropertyValue
Headwordsleet
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/sliːt/
Letters5
Frequency rank#35,939
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “sleet”

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).sleetlands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “SLA” (#35,938), “slugger” (#35,940), “Skylar” (#35,937). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “sleet” is #35,939. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around sleet (IPA /sliːt/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #35,939 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for sleet, with forms such as "lseet", "selet", and "sleett". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "slot", "slut", "slit", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English slete, probably from Old English *slēte, *slȳte, *slīete, from Proto-West Germanic *slautijā, from Proto-Germanic *slautijǭ (“sleet”). Walter W. Skeat, the author of Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, suggests Old Norse sly… The correct English form is sleet, spelled S-L-E-E-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Pellets of ice made of mostly-frozen raindrops or refrozen melted snowflakes.
  2. 2
    Precipitation in the form of a mixture of rain and snow.
  3. 3
    A smooth coating of ice formed on ground or other objects by freezing rain.
  4. 4
    The part of a mortar extending from the chamber to the trunnions.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Though it never really snows it’s more like horizontal sleet

Etymology

From Middle English slete, probably from Old English *slēte, *slȳte, *slīete, from Proto-West Germanic *slautijā, from Proto-Germanic *slautijǭ (“sleet”). Walter W. Skeat, the author of Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, suggests Old Norse slydda (whence Danish slud (“mixture of rain and snow”)). The word appears to be akin to Low German Sloot (“hail”), dialectal German Schloße (“large hailstone”), Old Gutnish sloyta (“slush, sleet”). Doublet of slut.

This word in other languages

aguanieve(Español)grésil(Français)Graupel(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • lseet
  • selet
  • sleett
  • slet
  • slete
  • slleet
  • ssleet

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sleet - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

lseet2selet2sleett1slet1slete2slleet1ssleet1
Edit distance from "sleet"

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 "sleet"?
"sleet" is spelled S-L-E-E-T. The IPA pronunciation is /sliːt/.
What does "sleet" mean?
As a noun, "sleet" means: Pellets of ice made of mostly-frozen raindrops or refrozen melted snowflakes.
What words are commonly confused with "sleet"?
"sleet" is commonly confused with "slot", "slut", "slit". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "sleet"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sleet" is /sliːt/. 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 "sleet"?
From Middle English slete, probably from Old English *slēte, *slȳte, *slīete, from Proto-West Germanic *slautijā, from Proto-Germanic *slautijǭ (“sleet”). Walter W. Skeat, the author of Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, suggests Old... 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 "sleet", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

seedy#35,933scifi#35,930spasm#35,950Rosso#35,921

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

raves7 variantstinge7 variantsPerrin7 variantsUnwin7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list