storm drain

noun

"storm-drain" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“storm drain” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An access point or conduit for rainwater that drains directly downstream in a (drainage) basin without passing through sewers or water treatment in order to prevent or belay floods.

Key facts for storm drain
PropertyValue
Headwordstorm drain
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “storm drain” sits in English frequency

storm drain falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

storm drain is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An access point or conduit for rainwater that drains directly downstream in a (drainage) basin without passing through sewers or water treatment in order to prevent or belay floods.".

No misspelling variants are generated for storm drain in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: An allusion to their usefulness in catching stormwater and therefore preventing floods. The correct English form is storm drain, spelled S-T-O-R-M- -D-R-A-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    An access point or conduit for rainwater that drains directly downstream in a (drainage) basin without passing through sewers or water treatment in order to prevent or belay floods.

Etymology

An allusion to their usefulness in catching stormwater and therefore preventing floods.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "storm drain"?
"storm drain" is spelled S-T-O-R-M- -D-R-A-I-N.
What does "storm drain" mean?
As a noun, "storm drain" means: An access point or conduit for rainwater that drains directly downstream in a (drainage) basin without passing through sewers or water treatment in order to prevent or belay floods.
What is the origin of the word "storm drain"?
An allusion to their usefulness in catching stormwater and therefore preventing floods. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “storm drain”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is S-T-O-R-M- -D-R-A-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list