sword
[sɔɹd]
"sword" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sword” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,852 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #3,852
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A long bladed weapon with a grip and typically a pommel and crossguard (together forming a hilt), which is designed to cut, stab, slash and/or hack.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sword |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [sɔɹd] |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #3,852 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sword” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sword is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [sɔɹd]. Corpus data places it at rank #3,852 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for sword, with forms such as "sowrd", "ssword", and "swodr". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "swot", "sworn", "swore", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from West Midland Middle English sword (swerd in most dialects), from Old English sweord (“sword”), from Proto-West Germanic *swerd (“sword”), from Proto-Germanic *swerdą (“sword”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂w- (“sharp”). Cognates Cog… The correct English form is sword, spelled S-W-O-R-D.
Definition
- 1A long bladed weapon with a grip and typically a pommel and crossguard (together forming a hilt), which is designed to cut, stab, slash and/or hack.
- 2A suit in certain playing card decks, particularly those used in Spain and Italy, or those used for divination.
- 3A suit in certain playing card decks, particularly those used in Spain and Italy, or those used for divination.
- 4One of the end bars by which the lay of a hand loom is suspended.
- 5Violence; military might.
Etymology
Inherited from West Midland Middle English sword (swerd in most dialects), from Old English sweord (“sword”), from Proto-West Germanic *swerd (“sword”), from Proto-Germanic *swerdą (“sword”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂w- (“sharp”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian Swērt, Swiirt, swörd (“sword”), Saterland Frisian Swid, Swäid (“sword”), West Frisian swurd (“sword”), Dutch zwaard (“sword”), German Schwert (“sword”), Luxembourgish Schwäert (“sword”), Vilamovian świert (“sword”), Yiddish שווערד (shverd, “sword”), Danish sværd (“sword”), Faroese svørð (“sword”), Icelandic sverð (“sword”), Norn svird (“small longish object”), Norwegian Bokmål sverd (“sword”), Norwegian Nynorsk sverd, svørd (“sword”), Swedish svärd (“sword”); also Belarusian све́рдзел (svjérdzjel, “drill, drill bit”), Bulgarian свре́дел (svrédel, “drill, drill bit”), Czech svider (“drill bit”), Polish świder (“drill”), Russian сверло́ (sverló, “auger, bore, drill, drill bit”), Serbo-Croatian свр̏дло, svȑdlo (“auger”), Slovene sveder (“drill”), Ukrainian све́рдел (svérdel), све́рдло (svérdlo, “drill bit”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: sowrd,ssword,swodr,swordd,sworrd,swrod,swword,wsord
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sword - 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.
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 "sword"?
What does "sword" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "sword"?
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Using “sword”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-W-O-R-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [sɔɹd] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “swot” - see the side-by-side comparison. sword vs swot
- 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.