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PlainSpell

sweet

/swit/adjective, interjection, adverb, noun

sweet is spelled S-W-E-E-T: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 81 times per million words in written English, the 1,302nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, sweet means “Tasting of sugars” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in sweet?

Letters5: S-W-E-E-T
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing81 times per million words; the 1,302nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is sweet?

Sweet appears 81 times per million words in written English, the 1,302nd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce sweet?

  • UK /swiːt/
  • US /swit/

Sweet has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-sweet.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with sweet

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

suite vs sweet0 B

Sounds like: suite (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with sweet?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as sweet from its last stressed vowel (/it/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of sweet

  • sweeter comparative
  • sweetest superlative
  • more sweet comparative
  • most sweet superlative
  • sweets plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • sweeting participle, present
  • sweeted participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does sweet mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Tasting of sugars.

    a sweet apple

  2. 2

    Retaining a portion of sugar.

    Sweet wines are better dessert wines.

  3. 3

    Not of a salty taste.

    sweet butter

  4. 4

    Having a pleasant smell; fragrant.

    a sweet scent

  5. 5

    Not decaying, fermented, rancid, sour, spoiled, or stale.

    sweet milk

  6. 6

    Of a pleasant sound.

    a sweet tune

  7. 7

    Of a pleasing disposition.

    a sweet child

  8. 8

    Of a helpful disposition.

    It was sweet of him to help out.

interjection

  1. 1

    Used as a positive response to good news or information.

    They're making a sequel? Ah, sweet!

adverb

  1. 1

    In a pleasant manner.

noun

  1. 1

    The basic taste sensation induced by sugar.

  2. 2

    IndiaUKA confection made from sugar, or high in sugar content; a candy.

  3. 3

    UKA food eaten for dessert.

    Can we see the sweet menu, please?

  4. 4

    Synonym of sweetheart, a term of affection.

    "You think that I'll take anything." "I know you will, sweet..." "There wasn't going to be any of that. You promised there wouldn't be." "Well, there is now," she said sweetly.

  5. 5

    obsoleteThat which is sweet or pleasant in odour; a perfume.

  6. 6

    obsoleteSweetness, delight; something pleasant to the mind or senses.

verb

  1. 1

    archaicTo sweeten.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Sweet in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdoux (having a pleasant taste), sucré (having a taste of sugar), frais (not decaying, rancid, sour, spoiled, or stale), doucement (in a sweet manner), friandise, bonbon (sugary confection)
Germansüß, lecker (having a pleasant taste), Süßigkeit (sugary confection), zuckerhaltig, gezuckert (containing a sweetening ingredient), lieblich (of a wine: retaining a portion of sugar)
Portuguesedoce (having a pleasant taste), docemente (in a sweet manner), adocicado, adoçado (containing a sweetening ingredient), suave (of a wine: retaining a portion of sugar)
Spanishdulce, rico, sabroso, gustoso (having a pleasant taste), dulcemente (in a sweet manner), azucarado (containing a sweetening ingredient)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does sweet come from?

From Middle English soot, sweete, swete, swoote, from Old English swēte, swoete, swōt, swœ̄te (“sweet”), from Proto-West Germanic *swōtī, from Proto-Germanic *swōtuz (“sweet”), from Proto-Indo-European *swéh₂dus (“sweet”), from *sweh₂d- (“sweet”) + *-us.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after sweet