state
/steɪt/
"state" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“state” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #163. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #163
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
Corpus desk
Index EN-state · state · English
state · rank #163 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #163
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 54,294
- PHOTO-FINISH part
Nearest frequency peer: part (-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 “state”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- AM
AM
99,841 corpus weight
- come
come
99,840 corpus weight
- part
part
99,839 corpus weight
- state
state
99,838 corpus weight
- three
three
99,837 corpus weight
- around
around
99,836 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “state” 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 | state |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /steɪt/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #163 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “state” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around state (IPA /steɪt/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #163 among 54,294 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 20 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for state, with forms such as "satte", "sstate", and "staet". 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, "stay", "SWAT", "style", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- Proto-Italic *status Latin statuslbor. Old French estatbor. Middle English stat English state From Middle English stat (as a noun); adopted c. 1200 from both Old French estat and Latin stātus (“manner of standing, … The correct English form is state, spelled S-T-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
- 2A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
- 3A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
- 4A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
- 5A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
- 6A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
- 7A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
- 8A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time.
- 9High social standing or circumstance.
- 10High social standing or circumstance.
- 11High social standing or circumstance.
- 12High social standing or circumstance.
- 13High social standing or circumstance.
- 14High social standing or circumstance.
- 15A polity or community.
- 16A polity or community.
- 17A polity or community.
- 18A polity or community.
- 19An element of the range of the random variables that define a random process.
- 20The lexical aspect (aktionsart) of verbs or predicates that do not change over time.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how state appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
a state of being
a state of emergency
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- Proto-Italic *status Latin statuslbor. Old French estatbor. Middle English stat English state From Middle English stat (as a noun); adopted c. 1200 from both Old French estat and Latin stātus (“manner of standing, attitude, position, carriage, manner, dress, apparel; and other senses”), from stāre (“to stand”). Doublet of estate and status. The sense of "polity" develops in the 14th century. Compare French être, Greek στέω (stéo), Italian stare, Portuguese estar, Romanian sta, and Spanish estar. The verb is first attested around the beginning of the 16th century. Related to English stand.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- satte
- sstate
- staet
- statte
- sttae
- sttate
- tsate
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of state - 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.
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 May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "state"?
What does "state" mean?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "state", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).
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.