staring

/ˈstɛəɹɪŋ/

//ˈstɛəɹɪŋ// verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"staring" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“staring” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #5,734. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#5,734
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - present participle and gerund of stare

Corpus desk

Index EN-staring · staring · English

staring · rank #5,734 · 10 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,734
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH stairs

Nearest frequency peer: stairs (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “staring”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “staring” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

staring vs sting
71% similar
staring vs strong
71% similar
staring vs string
86% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for staring
PropertyValue
Headwordstaring
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/ˈstɛəɹɪŋ/
Letters7
Frequency rank#5,734
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “staring”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).staringlands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “stairs” (#5,733), “statistical” (#5,735), “scream” (#5,732). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “staring” is #5,734. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around staring (IPA /ˈstɛəɹɪŋ/), averb. Corpus frequency is #5,734 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Dominant gloss: "present participle and gerund of stare".

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for staring, with forms such as "satring", "sstaring", and "stairng". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "sting", "strong", "string", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is staring, spelled S-T-A-R-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of stare

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • satring
  • sstaring
  • stairng
  • starign
  • staringg
  • starinng
  • starnig
  • straing
  • sttaring
  • tsaring

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of staring - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

satring2sstaring1stairng2starign2staringg1starinng1starnig2straing2
Edit distance from "staring"

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 "staring"?
"staring" is spelled S-T-A-R-I-N-G. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈstɛəɹɪŋ/.
What does "staring" mean?
As a verb, "staring" means: present participle and gerund of stare
What words are commonly confused with "staring"?
"staring" is commonly confused with "sting", "strong", "string". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "staring"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "staring" is /ˈstɛəɹɪŋ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "staring" come from?
"staring" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "staring", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

teenage#5,743thunder#5,744tragedy#5,746Vincent#5,748

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

sticks10 variantsaddresses10 variantslogical10 variantslecture10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list