overstay
"overstay" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“overstay” is uncommon English (frequency #81,664 among 1,431 “O” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #81,664
- frequency rank, English
- 1,431
- “O” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To remain present after the agreed or appropriate departure time.
Corpus desk
Index EN-overstay · overstay · English
overstay · rank #81,664 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #81,664
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,431
- PHOTO-FINISH overlong
Nearest frequency peer: overlong (-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.
Long-tail ranks near “overstay”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Otsuka
Otsuka
18,342 corpus weight
- outsell
outsell
18,340 corpus weight
- overlong
overlong
18,338 corpus weight
- overstay
overstay
18,337 corpus weight
- oviduct
oviduct
18,336 corpus weight
- oxtail
oxtail
18,332 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “overstay” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | overstay |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #81,664 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “overstay” in English
Rare enough to double-check
overstay is uncommon English at frequency #81,664 among 1,431 “O” headwords, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
overstay has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From over- + stay. The correct English form is overstay, spelled O-V-E-R-S-T-A-Y.
Definition
- 1To remain present after the agreed or appropriate departure time.
- 2To remain present beyond the limits of.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how overstay appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He overstayed his welcome.
"[H]e had overstayed his three-score and ten years by something like twenty years. He must have been ninety, if he was a day!"
Etymology
From over- + stay.
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 "overstay"?
What does "overstay" mean?
What is the origin of the word "overstay"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "overstay", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).