sperm
/spɜɹm/
"sperm" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sperm” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #9,102 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #9,102
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The reproductive cell or gamete of the male; a spermatozoon.
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 | sperm |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /spɜɹm/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #9,102 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sperm” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sperm is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /spɜɹm/. Corpus data places it at rank #9,102 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 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 sperm, with forms such as "pserm", "seprm", and "spemr". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "SPR", "stem", "spur", 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 sperme, from Latin sperma, from Ancient Greek σπέρμα (spérma, “seed, semen”). Compare also Old French esperme, sparme. The correct English form is sperm, spelled S-P-E-R-M.
Definition
- 1The reproductive cell or gamete of the male; a spermatozoon.
- 2Semen; the generative substance of male animals.
- 3Sperm oil; whale oil from a sperm whale; spermaceti.
Etymology
From Middle English sperme, from Latin sperma, from Ancient Greek σπέρμα (spérma, “seed, semen”). Compare also Old French esperme, sparme.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: pserm,seprm,spemr,spermm,sperrm,spperm,sprem,ssperm
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sperm - 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.
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 “sperm”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-P-E-R-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /spɜɹm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “SPR” - see the side-by-side comparison. sperm vs SPR
- 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.