Is "sleep" stative or dynamic

Sleep means to rest your mind and body, usually at night. So it should be stative. But we often say something like "I am sleeping". So it looks also like a dynamic verb. Is sleep stative or dynamic or both?

Solution 1:

Don't think of the names of the categories quite so literally. The University of Victoria's Study Zone specifically lists "sleep" as a dynamic verb, and from the description it should be pretty clear why:

• Dynamic verbs (sometimes referred to as "action verbs") usually describe actions we can take, or things that happen

• [S]tative verbs usually refer to a state or condition which is not changing or likely to change.

• The difference is important, because stative verbs cannot normally be used in the continuous (BE + ING) forms.