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station

/ˈsteɪʃən/noun, verb

station is spelled S-T-A-T-I-O-N. The wrong spelling people search most is staion: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 154 of all searches for the word. Station is a noun meaning “A regular stopping place for ground transportation”. The plural of station is stations.

How many letters and syllables are in station?

Letters7: S-T-A-T-I-O-N
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing102 times per million words; the 1,048th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, staion, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them)

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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How do you spell station?

Station is spelled S-T-A-T-I-O-N. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 155 of the searches for station in either form.

stationthe right spelling3,070 searches a month
staiona missing t20 searches a month

Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.

How common is station?

Station appears 102 times per million words in written English, the 1,048th 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 station?

  • /ˈsteɪʃən/
  • /(ɪ)ʂʈeːʃən/
  • /(sə)ʈeːʃən/

Station has 2 syllables (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). Recordings: En-us-station.ogg, En-uk-a_station.ogg, En-au-station.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of station

  • stations plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • stationing participle, present
  • stationed participle, past

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

What does station mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A regular stopping place for ground transportation.

    The next station is Esperanza.

  2. 2

    A ground transportation depot.

    It's right across from the bus station.

  3. 3

    A place where one stands or stays or is assigned to stand or stay.

    From my station at the front door, I greeted every visitor.

  4. 4

    A place where some object is provided.

    Collect a knife and fork from the cutlery station on the way to your table.

  5. 5

    USA gas station, service station.

  6. 6

    An official building from which police or firefighters operate.

    The police station is opposite the fire station.

  7. 7

    A place where one performs a task or where one is on call to perform a task.

    The waitress was at her station preparing three checks.

  8. 8

    A military base.

    She had a boyfriend at the station.

verb

  1. 1

    To put in place to perform a task.

    The host stationed me at the front door to greet visitors.

  2. 2

    To put in place to perform military duty.

    They stationed me overseas just as fighting broke out.

  3. 3

    slangTo play in the manner of a calling station.

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

How do you abbreviate station?

Wiktionary records 4 abbreviations of station: STA, sta, sta., stn.

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

Station in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgare, station (place where a vehicle may stop), chaîne (broadcasting entity)
GermanBahnhof, Station (place where a vehicle may stop), postieren (put in place to perform a task), stationieren (put in place to perform military duty)
Portugueseestação (place where a vehicle may stop), estacionar (put in place to perform a task)
Spanishestación (place where a vehicle may stop), postar (desus.), apostar, emplazar, situar, estacionar (put in place to perform a task)

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 station come from?

From Middle English stacioun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman estation, from Latin statiōnem, accusative of statiō (“standing, post, job, position”), whence also Italian stazione. Doublet of stagione. Cognate with Ancient Greek ἵστημι (hístēmi), στάσις (stásis), Old English standan (whence English stand).

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

What to look up after station