slumber
/ˈslʌm.bə/
"slumber" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“slumber” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #22,510 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #22,510
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 7
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A very light state of sleep, almost awake.
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 | slumber |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈslʌm.bə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #22,510 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 7 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “slumber” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for slumber is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈslʌm.bə/. Corpus data places it at rank #22,510 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 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for slumber, with forms such as "lsumber", "sllumber", and "slmuber". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 7 confusable-pair relationships, "summer", "Sumner", "somber", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English slombren, slomren, frequentative of Middle English slummen, slumen (“to doze”), probably from Middle English slume (“slumber”), from Old English slūma, from Proto-Germanic *slūm- (“slack, loose, limp, flabby”), from Proto-Indo-European *… The correct English form is slumber, spelled S-L-U-M-B-E-R.
Definition
- 1A very light state of sleep, almost awake.
- 2A very light state of sleep, almost awake.
- 3A state of ignorance or inaction.
- 4The snooze button on an alarm clock.
Etymology
From Middle English slombren, slomren, frequentative of Middle English slummen, slumen (“to doze”), probably from Middle English slume (“slumber”), from Old English slūma, from Proto-Germanic *slūm- (“slack, loose, limp, flabby”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew- (“loose, limp, flabby”). Cognate with West Frisian slommerje, slûmerje (“to slumber”), Dutch sluimeren (“to slumber”), German schlummern (“to slumber, doze”), Swedish slummer (“to slumber”). By surface analysis, sloom + -er.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: lsumber,sllumber,slmuber,slubmer,slumbber,slumberr,slumbre,slumebr,slummber,sslumber,sulmber
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of slumber - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “slumber”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-L-U-M-B-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈslʌm.bə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “summer” - see the side-by-side comparison. slumber vs summer
- 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.