# sleet

> English word · Noun · IPA /sliːt/ · frequency rank #35,939

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

## 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.

## Easily confused with
- **slot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-slot)
- **slut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-slut)
- **slit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-slit)
- **slew** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-slew)
- **spent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-spent)
- **speed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-speed)
- **sweet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-sweet)
- **steel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-steel)
- **slept** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-slept)
- **sweat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-sweat)
- **steep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-steep)
- **sweep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-sweep)
- **swept** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-swept)
- **steer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-steer)
- **spelt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-spelt)
- **smelt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-smelt)
- **steed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-steed)
- **stent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-stent)
- **steen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-steen)
- **sneer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sleet-vs-sneer)

## Common misspellings (7)
`lseet`, `selet`, `sleett`, `slet`, `slete`, `slleet`, `ssleet`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/sleet