swim

/swɪm/

//swɪm// verb

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

"swim" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“swim” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #5,089. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#5,089
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means.

Corpus desk

Index EN-swim · swim · English

swim · rank #5,089 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,089
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH Swedish

Nearest frequency peer: Swedish (-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 “swim”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “swim” 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).

swim vs swot
50% similar
swim vs swing
60% similar
swim vs Swiss
40% similar

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

Key facts for swim
PropertyValue
Headwordswim
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/swɪm/
Letters4
Frequency rank#5,089
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “swim”

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).swimlands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “Swedish” (#5,088), “Swiss” (#5,090), “stole” (#5,087). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “swim” is #5,089. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around swim (IPA /swɪm/), averb. Corpus frequency is #5,089 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 11 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for swim, with forms such as "siwm", "sswim", and "swimm". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "swot", "swing", "Swiss", 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 swymmen, from Old English swimman (“to swim, float”) (class III strong verb; past tense swamm, past participle geswummen), from Proto-West Germanic *swimman, from Proto-Germanic *swimmaną (“to swim”), from Proto-Indo-European *swem(bʰ)- … The correct English form is swim, spelled S-W-I-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means.
  2. 2
    To become immersed in, or as if in, or flooded with, or as if with, a liquid.
  3. 3
    To move around freely because of excess space.
  4. 4
    To traverse (a specific body of water, or a specific distance) by swimming; or, to use a specific swimming stroke; or, to compete in a specific swimming event.
  5. 5
    To cause to swim.
  6. 6
    To float.
  7. 7
    To be overflowed or drenched.
  8. 8
    To immerse in water to make the lighter parts float.
  9. 9
    To test (a suspected witch) by throwing into a river; those who floated rather than sinking were deemed to be witches.
  10. 10
    To glide along with a waving motion.
  11. 11
    To have a great quantity of something.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. We were now all upon a Level, as to our travelling; being unshipp’d, for our Bark would swim no farther, and she was too heavy to carry on our Backs […]
  2. He turned back to the scene before him and the enormous new block of council dwellings. The design was some way after Corbusier but the block was built up on plinths and resembled an Atlantic liner swimming diagonally across the site.

Etymology

From Middle English swymmen, from Old English swimman (“to swim, float”) (class III strong verb; past tense swamm, past participle geswummen), from Proto-West Germanic *swimman, from Proto-Germanic *swimmaną (“to swim”), from Proto-Indo-European *swem(bʰ)- (“to be unsteady, move, swim”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian sweem, swome, swume, swumi, swumme, swääm (“to swim”), Saterland Frisian and West Frisian swimme (“to swim”), Dutch zwemmen (“to swim”), German schwimmen (“to swim”), Limburgish schwämme, zwömme (“to swim”), Low German swimmen (“to swim”), Luxembourgish schwammen (“to swim”), Vilamovian švymma, śwyma, śwymma (“to swim”), Yiddish שווימען (shvimen, “to swim”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål svømme (“to swim”), Faroese svimja (“to swim”), Norn suma (“to swim”), Norwegian Nynorsk svemja, svemje, svømma, svømme, symja, symje (“to swim”), Swedish simma (“to swim”).

This word in other languages

nadar(Español)nager(Français)schwimmen(Deutsch)nadar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • siwm
  • sswim
  • swimm
  • swmi
  • swwim
  • wsim

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of swim - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

siwm2sswim1swimm1swmi2swwim1wsim2
Edit distance from "swim"

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 "swim"?
"swim" is spelled S-W-I-M. The IPA pronunciation is /swɪm/.
What does "swim" mean?
As a verb, "swim" means: To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means.
What words are commonly confused with "swim"?
"swim" is commonly confused with "swot", "swing", "Swiss". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "swim"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "swim" is /swɪm/. 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 "swim"?
From Middle English swymmen, from Old English swimman (“to swim, float”) (class III strong verb; past tense swamm, past participle geswummen), from Proto-West Germanic *swimman, from Proto-Germanic *swimmaną (“to swim”), from Proto-Indo-European *... 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 "swim", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

snap#5,084skip#5,082sink#5,081beta#5,101

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

Swiss6 variantsowns6 variantshung6 variantsflip6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list