sweat

/swɛt/

//swɛt// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"sweat" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“sweat” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #5,739. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#5,739
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Fluid that exits the body through pores in the skin usually due to physical stress and/or high temperature for the purpose of regulating body temperature and removing certain compounds from the cir...

Corpus desk

Index EN-sweat · sweat · English

sweat · rank #5,739 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,739
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH succeeded

Nearest frequency peer: succeeded (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “sweat”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

sweat vs swot
60% similar
sweat vs sweet
80% similar
sweat vs swift
60% similar

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

Key facts for sweat
PropertyValue
Headwordsweat
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/swɛt/
Letters5
Frequency rank#5,739
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “sweat”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).sweatlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “succeeded” (#5,738), “switched” (#5,740), “strangers” (#5,737). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “sweat” is #5,739. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around sweat (IPA /swɛt/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #5,739 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for sweat, with forms such as "sewat", "ssweat", and "swaet". 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, "swot", "sweet", "swift", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English swete, swet, swate, swote, from Old English swāt, from Proto-Germanic *swait-, *swaitą, from Proto-Indo-European *swoyd- (“to sweat”), o-grade of *sweyd- (“to sweat”). Cognate with West Frisian swit, Dutch zweet, German Schweiß, Danish s… The correct English form is sweat, spelled S-W-E-A-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Fluid that exits the body through pores in the skin usually due to physical stress and/or high temperature for the purpose of regulating body temperature and removing certain compounds from the circulation.
  2. 2
    The state of one who is sweating; diaphoresis.
  3. 3
    Hard work; toil.
  4. 4
    Moisture issuing from any substance.
  5. 5
    A short run by a racehorse as a form of exercise.
  6. 6
    The sweating sickness.
  7. 7
    A soldier (especially one who is old or experienced).
  8. 8
    An extremely or excessively competitive player.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how sweat appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Just thinking about the interview tomorrow puts me into a nervous sweat.
  2. The Muses' friend (grey-eyed Aurora) yet Held all the meadows in a cooling sweat, The milk-white gossamers not upwards snow'd, Nor was the sharp and useful-steering goad

Etymology

From Middle English swete, swet, swate, swote, from Old English swāt, from Proto-Germanic *swait-, *swaitą, from Proto-Indo-European *swoyd- (“to sweat”), o-grade of *sweyd- (“to sweat”). Cognate with West Frisian swit, Dutch zweet, German Schweiß, Danish sved, Swedish svett, Yiddish שוויצן (shvitsn) (English shvitz), Latin sudor, French sueur, Italian sudore, Spanish sudor, Persian خوی (xway, “sweat”), Sanskrit स्वेद (svéda), Lithuanian sviedri, Tocharian B syā-, Albanian djersë, and Welsh chwys.

Synonyms

sudor

This word in other languages

sudor(Español)sueur(Français)Schweiß(Deutsch)suor(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • sewat
  • ssweat
  • swaet
  • sweatt
  • sweta
  • swweat
  • wseat

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

sewat2ssweat1swaet2sweatt1sweta2swweat1wseat2
Edit distance from "sweat"

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 "sweat"?
"sweat" is spelled S-W-E-A-T. The IPA pronunciation is /swɛt/.
What does "sweat" mean?
As a noun, "sweat" means: Fluid that exits the body through pores in the skin usually due to physical stress and/or high temperature for the purpose of regulating body temperature and removing certain compounds from the cir...
What words are commonly confused with "sweat"?
"sweat" is commonly confused with "swot", "sweet", "swift". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "sweat"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sweat" is /swɛt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "sweat"?
From Middle English swete, swet, swate, swote, from Old English swāt, from Proto-Germanic *swait-, *swaitą, from Proto-Indo-European *swoyd- (“to sweat”), o-grade of *sweyd- (“to sweat”). Cognate with West Frisian swit, Dutch zweet, German Schweiß... 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 "sweat", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Tours#5,745alike#5,756pearl#5,721arrow#5,758

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

pepper7 variantscabin7 variantsmason7 variantslakes7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list