suckling

Name: suckling, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed September 3, 2026

The verdict

“suckling” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #39,119. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#39,119
frequency rank, English: 6,566
“S” headwords: 13
tracked misspellings: 4
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An infant that is still being breastfed (being suckled) by its mother.

Corpus desk

Index EN-suckling · suckling · English

suckling · rank #39,119 · 13 variants · 4 confusables

FREQ-MID #39,119
LEN-LONG 8 letters
VOW-2 2 vowels
CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
VAR-HIGH 13 variants
BOOK-DENSE 6,566
PHOTO-FINISH sucrose

Nearest frequency peer: sucrose (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

stretchy

60,884
suckling

60,882
sucrose

60,881
Suleiman

60,880
sundae

60,879
sundry

60,878

What this shows “suckling” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

suckling vs sulking

75% similar

suckling vs sucking

88% similar

suckling vs scaling

75% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for suckling
Property	Value
Headword	suckling
Language	English
Part of speech	Noun
Letters	8
Frequency rank	#39,119
Misspellings tracked	13
Confusable pairs	4
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “suckling”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).sucklinglands here:

#39,119

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “sucrose” (#39,120), “stretchy” (#39,117), “Suleiman” (#39,121). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “suckling” is #39,119. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around suckling, anoun. Corpus frequency is #39,119 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for suckling, with forms such as "scukling", "ssuckling", and "succkling". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "sulking", "sucking", "scaling", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sukling, sukeling, sokeling, equivalent to suck + -ling. Cognate with Middle Dutch sogelinc (“suckling”), Dutch zuigeling (“suckling”), German Säugling (“suckling”). The correct English form is suckling, spelled S-U-C-K-L-I-N-G.

Definition

1
An infant that is still being breastfed (being suckled) by its mother.
2
A young mammal not yet weaned and still being fed milk by its mother.

Etymology

From Middle English sukling, sukeling, sokeling, equivalent to suck + -ling. Cognate with Middle Dutch sogelinc (“suckling”), Dutch zuigeling (“suckling”), German Säugling (“suckling”).

This word in other languages

lactante(Español)nourrisson(Français)Säugling(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

scukling
ssuckling
succkling
suckilng
suckkling
sucklign
sucklingg
sucklinng
sucklling
sucklnig
suclking
sukcling
usckling

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of suckling - 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.

Edit distance from "suckling"

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

How do you spell "suckling"?

"suckling" is spelled S-U-C-K-L-I-N-G.

What does "suckling" mean?

As a noun, "suckling" means: An infant that is still being breastfed (being suckled) by its mother.

What words are commonly confused with "suckling"?

"suckling" is commonly confused with "sulking", "sucking", "scaling". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.

What is the origin of the word "suckling"?

From Middle English sukling, sukeling, sokeling, equivalent to suck + -ling. Cognate with Middle Dutch sogelinc (“suckling”), Dutch zuigeling (“suckling”), German Säugling (“suckling”). 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "suckling", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

stretchy#39,117 Suleiman#39,121 Svetlana#39,125 Strachan#39,112

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

toothache13 variants trimmings13 variants Tupperware13 variants whosoever13 variants