staff

[stɑːf]

/[stɑːf]/ noun

The verdict

“staff” has 6 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #32,780. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#32,780
frequency rank, German
8,027
“S” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Lehrkörper, Mitarbeiterstab, Personal

Corpus desk

Index DE-staff · staff · German

staff · rank #32,780 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #32,780
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,027
  • PHOTO-FINISH Stadtteils

Nearest frequency peer: Stadtteils (-1 rank slots)

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.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „staff“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „staff“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im 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).

staff vs Star
40% similar
staff vs Stau
40% similar
staff vs stan
60% similar

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

Key facts for staff
PropertyValue
Headwordstaff
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[stɑːf]
Letters5
Frequency rank#32,780
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „staff“

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).staffliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Stadtteils“ (#32,779), „Stammzellen“ (#32,781), „Staatsstreich“ (#32,778). Unter 8,027 „S“-Lemmata liegt „staff“ bei #32,780. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around staff (IPA [stɑːf]), anoun. Corpus frequency is #32,780 among 8,027 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for staff, with forms such as "satff", "sstaff", and "staf". 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, "Star", "Stau", "stan", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct German form is staff, spelled S-T-A-F-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    Lehrkörper, Mitarbeiterstab, Personal
  2. 2
    Stab, Stock
  3. 3
    Notenlinie

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. "The staff is not allowed to answer from memory, lore, or educated guesses; every answer must be grounded in fact and verified in print."
  2. „The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.“

Synonyms

body of employeesforcepersonnelbatbatonbludgeoncaneclubcudgelmaceshillelahstickpartisanpolepropquarter-staffrodsupportstaytruncheonwand

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • satff
  • sstaff
  • staf
  • stfaf
  • sttaff
  • tsaff

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of staff - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

satff2sstaff1staf1stfaf2sttaff1tsaff2
Edit distance from "staff"

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 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "staff"?
"staff" is spelled S-T-A-F-F. The IPA pronunciation is [stɑːf].
What does "staff" mean?
As a noun, "staff" means: Lehrkörper, Mitarbeiterstab, Personal
What words are commonly confused with "staff"?
"staff" is commonly confused with "Star", "Stau", "stan". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "staff"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "staff" is [stɑːf]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "staff" come from?
"staff" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "staff", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list