staunch
/stɔːn(t)ʃ/
"staunch" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“staunch” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #22,515 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #22,515
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Not permitting water or some other liquid to escape or penetrate; watertight.
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 | staunch |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /stɔːn(t)ʃ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #22,515 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “staunch” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for staunch is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /stɔːn(t)ʃ/. Corpus data places it at rank #22,515 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for staunch, with forms such as "satunch", "sstaunch", and "stanuch". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "stench", "staunchly", "stance", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English staunch, staunche (“(adjective) in good condition or repair; solidly made, firm; watertight; of a person or wound: not bleeding; certain; intact; (adverb) firmly, soundly”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman estaunche, Old French estan… The correct English form is staunch, spelled S-T-A-U-N-C-H.
Definition
- 1Not permitting water or some other liquid to escape or penetrate; watertight.
- 2Not permitting water or some other liquid to escape or penetrate; watertight.
- 3Strongly built; also, in good or strong condition.
- 4Staying true to one's aims or principles; firm, resolute, unswerving.
- 5Dependable, loyal, reliable, trustworthy.
- 6Dependable, loyal, reliable, trustworthy.
- 7Cautious, restrained.
- 8Stubborn, intransigent.
Etymology
From Middle English staunch, staunche (“(adjective) in good condition or repair; solidly made, firm; watertight; of a person or wound: not bleeding; certain; intact; (adverb) firmly, soundly”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman estaunche, Old French estanche (“firm; watertight”) (modern French étanche (“airtight; watertight”)), a variant of estanc (“a pond”), from estanchier (“to stop the flow of a liquid (blood, water, etc.); to make (something) watertight; to quench (thirst)”) (modern French étancher), possibly from one of the following: * From Vulgar Latin *stagnicāre, from Latin stāgnum (“piece of standing water, pond; fen, swamp”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂g- (“to drip; to seep”). * From Vulgar Latin *stānticāre, from *stānticus (“tired”), from Latin stāns, stāntis (“standing; remaining, staying”). Stāns is the present active participle of stō (“to stand; to remain, stay”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”). Cognates * Italian stanco (“bored; tired”) * Portuguese estanque (“watertight”) * Romansh staunza (“a room”) * Spanish estanco (“closed, sealed; airtight; watertight”)
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: satunch,sstaunch,stanuch,staucnh,stauncch,staunchh,staunhc,staunnch,sttaunch,stuanch,tsaunch
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of staunch - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "staunch"?
What does "staunch" mean?
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Using “staunch”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-A-U-N-C-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /stɔːn(t)ʃ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “stench” - see the side-by-side comparison. staunch vs stench
- 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.