sleigh
/sleɪ/noun, verb
sleigh is spelled S-L-E-I-G-H: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,270th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “slay vs sleigh” about 40 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, sleigh means “A vehicle, generally pulled by an animal, which moves over snow or ice on runners, used for transporting persons or goods. (contrast "sled", which is…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sleigh is sleighs.
How many letters and syllables are in sleigh?
| Letters | 6: S-L-E-I-G-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 29,270th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is sleigh?
Sleigh appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,270th 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 sleigh?
- /sleɪ/
Sleigh has one syllable (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: En-us-sleigh.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with sleigh
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: slay, sley (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of sleigh
- sleighs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- sleighing participle, present
- sleighed participle, past
- sleigher comparative
- sleighest superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sleigh mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A vehicle, generally pulled by an animal, which moves over snow or ice on runners, used for transporting persons or goods. (contrast "sled", which is smaller)
Santa travels in a sleigh.
verb
- 1
To ride or drive a sleigh.
- 2
To transport (cargo, freight) via sleigh.
adjective
- 1
obsoleteSly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does sleigh come from?
From Modern Dutch slee, from Middle Dutch slede, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *slidô. Doublet of sled and further related to slide.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).