stakeout

noun

"stakeout" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“stakeout” is uncommon English (frequency #89,940 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#89,940
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The act of watching a location or people, generally covertly.

Corpus desk

Index EN-stakeout · stakeout · English

stakeout · rank #89,940 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #89,940
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH stabling

Nearest frequency peer: stabling (-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 “stakeout”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for stakeout
PropertyValue
Headwordstakeout
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Frequency rank#89,940
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “stakeout” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).stakeoutfalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “stabling” (#89,938), “sprue” (#89,936), “stereochemistry” (#89,945). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “stakeout” is #89,940. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

stakeout is uncommon English at frequency #89,940 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The act of watching a location or people, generally covertly.".

Zero misspellings are on record for stakeout in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: Deverbal from stake out. The correct English form is stakeout, spelled S-T-A-K-E-O-U-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    The act of watching a location or people, generally covertly.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. The police had a stakeout in place where they expected the crime to occur.

Etymology

Deverbal from stake out.

This word in other languages

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 "stakeout"?
"stakeout" is spelled S-T-A-K-E-O-U-T.
What does "stakeout" mean?
As a noun, "stakeout" means: The act of watching a location or people, generally covertly.
What is the origin of the word "stakeout"?
Deverbal from stake out. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 "stakeout", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list