sling
/ˈslɪŋ/
"sling" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sling” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #18,698 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #18,698
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To throw with a circular or arcing motion.
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 | sling |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈslɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #18,698 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sling” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sling is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈslɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #18,698 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for sling, with forms such as "lsing", "silng", and "slign". 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, "song", "spin", "slip", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English slynge (noun), slyngen (verb), probably from Old Norse slyngja, slyngva (“to hurl”), from Proto-Germanic *slingwaną (“to worm, twist”) or compare Old English slingan (“to wind, twist”), from the same source. Compare German schlingen (“to… The correct English form is sling, spelled S-L-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1To throw with a circular or arcing motion.
- 2To throw with a sling.
- 3To pass a rope around (a cask, gun, etc.) preparatory to attaching a hoisting or lowering tackle.
- 4To sell, peddle, or distribute (often illicitly, e.g. drugs, sex, etc.).
Etymology
From Middle English slynge (noun), slyngen (verb), probably from Old Norse slyngja, slyngva (“to hurl”), from Proto-Germanic *slingwaną (“to worm, twist”) or compare Old English slingan (“to wind, twist”), from the same source. Compare German schlingen (“to swing, wind, twist”), Danish and Norwegian slynge), from Proto-Indo-European *slenk- (“to turn, twist”) (compare Welsh llyngyr (“worms, maggots”), Lithuanian sliñkti (“to crawl like a snake”), Latvian slìkt (“to sink”)).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: lsing,silng,slign,slingg,slinng,slling,slnig,ssling
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sling - 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
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Using “sling”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-L-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈslɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “song” - see the side-by-side comparison. sling vs song
- 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.