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PlainSpell

stance

/stæns/noun, verb

stance is spelled S-T-A-N-C-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,565th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, stance means “The manner, pose, or posture in which one stands” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of stance is stances.

How many letters and syllables are in stance?

Letters6: S-T-A-N-C-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing11 times per million words; the 6,565th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is stance?

Stance appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,565th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce stance?

  • US /stæns/
  • US [stɛəns]
  • [stɛːns]

Stance has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What rhymes with stance?

9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as stance from its last stressed vowel (/æns/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: ascent, secant.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of stance

  • stances plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • stancing participle, present
  • stanced participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does stance mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The manner, pose, or posture in which one stands.

    The fencer’s stance showed he was ready to begin.

  2. 2

    One's opinion or point of view.

    I don’t agree with your stance on gun control.

  3. 3

    A place to stand; a position, a site, a station.

  4. 4

    A foothold or ledge on which to set up a belay.

  5. 5

    ScotlandA place for buses or taxis to await passengers; a bus stop, a taxi rank.

  6. 6

    ScotlandA place where a fair or market is held; a location where a street trader can carry on business.

  7. 7

    obsoleterareA stanza.

verb

  1. 1

    ScotlandTo place, to position, to station; (specifically) to put (cattle) into an enclosure or pen in preparation for sale.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Stance in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchposition, posture (manner, pose, or posture in which one stands), attitude, point de vue (opinion or point of view)
GermanEinstellung, Positur (manner, pose, or posture in which one stands), Haltung, Verhältnis, Standpunkt (opinion or point of view)
Portuguesepostura, posição (manner, pose, or posture in which one stands)
Spanishpostura (manner, pose, or posture in which one stands), parecer (opinion or point of view)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does stance come from?

From Middle English staunce (“place to stand; battle station; position; standing in society; circumstance, situation; stanchion”), from Old French estance (“predicament; situation; sojourn, stay”) (compare modern French stance (“stanza; position one stands in when golfing”)), from Italian stanza (“room, standing place; stanza”), from Vulgar Latin *stantia, from Latin stō (“to stand; to remain, stay”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”). The word is cognate with Spanish estante (“shelf”) and a doublet of stanza. The verb is derived from the noun.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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