stave
/steɪv/
"stave" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“stave” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #27,656 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #27,656
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - One of a number of narrow strips of wood, or narrow iron plates, placed edge to edge to form the sides, covering, or lining of a vessel or structure; especially, one of the strips which form the si...
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 | stave |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /steɪv/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #27,656 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “stave” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for stave is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /steɪv/. Corpus data places it at rank #27,656 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 7 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 stave, with forms such as "satve", "sstave", and "staev". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "stay", "style", "store", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Back-formation from staves, the plural of staff. The correct English form is stave, spelled S-T-A-V-E.
Definition
- 1One of a number of narrow strips of wood, or narrow iron plates, placed edge to edge to form the sides, covering, or lining of a vessel or structure; especially, one of the strips which form the sides of a cask, barrel, pail, etc.
- 2One of the bars or rounds of a rack, rungs of a ladder, etc; one of the cylindrical bars of a lantern wheel
- 3A metrical portion; a stanza; a staff.
- 4The set of five horizontal and parallel lines on and between which musical notes are written or pointed; the staff.
- 5The initial consonant, consonant cluster, or vowel of a word which rhymes with another word with the same consonant or vowel in stave-rhyme.
- 6A sign, symbol or sigil, including rune or rune-like characters, used in Icelandic magic.
- 7A staff or walking stick.
Etymology
Back-formation from staves, the plural of staff.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: satve,sstave,staev,stavve,sttave,stvae,tsave
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of stave - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "stave"?
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Using “stave”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-A-V-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /steɪv/ (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. stave 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.