stationary
sta·tion·ary/ˈsteɪʃəˌnɛɹi/adjective
stationary is spelled S-T-A-T-I-O-N-A-R-Y: 10 letters and 3 syllables (sta·tion·ary). It appears 4.3 times per million words in written English, the 12,397th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “stationary vs stationery” about 14,800 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, stationary means “Not moving” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in stationary?
| Letters | 10: S-T-A-T-I-O-N-A-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: sta·tion·ary |
| In writing | 4.3 times per million words; the 12,397th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is stationary?
Stationary appears 4.3 times per million words in written English, the 12,397th 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 stationary?
- UK /ˈsteɪʃ(ə)n(ə)ɹi/
- US /ˈsteɪʃəˌnɛɹi/
Stationary has 3 syllables, split sta·tion·ary in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-stationary.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with stationary
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: stationery (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with stationary?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as stationary from its last stressed vowel (/eɪʃənɛɹi/):
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).
What does stationary mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Not moving.
The train remained stationary for a few moments, before lurching forward along the track.
- 2
Incapable of being moved.
- 3
Unchanging.
- 4
A set which intersects all club sets.
noun
- 1
obsoleterareOne who, or that which, is stationary, such as a planet when apparently it has neither progressive nor retrograde motion.
Wiktionary also records stationary as a common misspelling of another word in some uses; the senses above are its own.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Stationary in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | stationnaire |
| German | stationär , unbeweglich, ortsgebunden, standortgebunden |
| Portuguese | estacionário |
| Spanish | estacionario , inamovible |
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 stationary come from?
From Latin stationarius, from statio, ultimately from stō (“to stand”). Doublet of stationer.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).