swum

/swʌm/

//swʌm// verb

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

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

The verdict

“swum” is uncommon English (frequency #57,752 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#57,752
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - past participle of swim

Corpus desk

Index EN-swum · swum · English

swum · rank #57,752 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #57,752
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH tallow

Nearest frequency peer: tallow (+2 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.

Long-tail ranks near “swum”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “swum” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for swum
PropertyValue
Headwordswum
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/swʌm/
Letters4
Frequency rank#57,752
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “swum” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).swumfalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “tallow” (#57,754), “Talmudic” (#57,755), “tamoxifen” (#57,756). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “swum” is #57,752. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

swum is uncommon English at frequency #57,752 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /swʌm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

swum doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is swum, spelled S-W-U-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    past participle of swim
  2. 2
    simple past of 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 "swum"?
"swum" is spelled S-W-U-M. The IPA pronunciation is /swʌm/.
What does "swum" mean?
As a verb, "swum" means: past participle of swim
How do you pronounce "swum"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "swum" is /swʌm/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "swum" come from?
"swum" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "swum", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

suet#57,745sudo#57,744spay#57,728toyo#57,777

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list