STA
"sta" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“STA” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #19,212) as a proper noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #19,212
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Initialism of State Transport Authority.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sta · STA · English
STA · rank #19,212 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #19,212
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH Spokane
Nearest frequency peer: Spokane (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “STA”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- skater
skater
80,794 corpus weight
- skincare
skincare
80,793 corpus weight
- Spokane
Spokane
80,790 corpus weight
- STA
STA
80,789 corpus weight
- stares
stares
80,787 corpus weight
- steaming
steaming
80,785 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “STA” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | STA |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #19,212 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “STA” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for STA is neighbouring look-alikes ("su", "SW", …), not just typos; it is aproper noun. Frequency #19,212 among 6,566 “S” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for STA, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "su", "SW", "SV", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is STA, spelled S-T-A.
Definition
- 1Initialism of State Transport Authority.
- 2Initialism of State Transit Authority.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how STA appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The STA (1600 mm gauge) operates railways in the Adelaide metropolitan area only.
The State Transit Authority of New South Wales (STA) is an agency of the Government of New South Wales based in Sydney, Australia operating bus and ferry services. THe STA is part of transport minister John Watkins′s portfolio.[…]The STA was established in 1989 to replace the Urban Transit Authority of New South Wales.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "STA", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "STA". Here's where to go from here.
- "STA" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "su". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #19,212 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "S" letter cohort. S–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.