stale
/steɪl/
"stale" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“stale” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #16,589 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #16,589
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Clear, free of dregs and lees; old and strong.
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 | stale |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /steɪl/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #16,589 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “stale” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for stale is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /steɪl/. Corpus data places it at rank #16,589 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for stale, with forms such as "satle", "sstale", and "stalle". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "stay", "star", "stan", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English stale, from Old French estal (“fixed position, place”), but probably originally from Proto-Germanic *stāną (“to stand”): compare West Flemish stel in the same sense for ‘beer’ and ‘urine’. The correct English form is stale, spelled S-T-A-L-E.
Definition
- 1Clear, free of dregs and lees; old and strong.
- 2No longer fresh, in reference to food, urine, straw, wounds, etc.
- 3No longer fresh, new, or interesting, in reference to ideas and immaterial things; clichéd, hackneyed, dated.
- 4No longer nubile or suitable for marriage, in reference to people; past one's prime.
- 5Not new or recent; having been in place or in effect for some time.
- 6Fallow, in reference to land.
- 7Unreasonably long in coming, in reference to claims and actions.
- 8Worn out, particularly due to age or over-exertion, in reference to athletes and animals in competition.
- 9Out of date, unpaid for an unreasonable amount of time, particularly in reference to checks.
- 10Of data: out of date; not synchronized with the newest copy.
Etymology
From Middle English stale, from Old French estal (“fixed position, place”), but probably originally from Proto-Germanic *stāną (“to stand”): compare West Flemish stel in the same sense for ‘beer’ and ‘urine’.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: satle,sstale,stalle,stlae,sttale,tsale
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of stale - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
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Using “stale”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-A-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /steɪl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “stay” - see the side-by-side comparison. stale vs stay
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.