state
/steɪt/
"state" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“state” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #163 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #163
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 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.
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
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for state is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /steɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #163 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 20 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
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.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “state”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /steɪt/ (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. state 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.