stealing
/ˈstiːlɪŋ/
"stealing" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“stealing” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,897 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #4,897
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The action of the verb to steal, theft.
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 | stealing |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈstiːlɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #4,897 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “stealing” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for stealing is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈstiːlɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,897 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for stealing, with forms such as "setaling", "sstealing", and "staeling". 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, "styling", "sterling", "stepping", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is stealing, spelled S-T-E-A-L-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1The action of the verb to steal, theft.
- 2That which is stolen; stolen property.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: setaling,sstealing,staeling,steailng,stealign,stealingg,stealinng,stealling,stealnig,stelaing,sttealing,tsealing
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of stealing - 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
How do you spell "stealing"?
What does "stealing" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "stealing"?
How do you pronounce "stealing"?
What language does "stealing" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “stealing”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-E-A-L-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈstiːlɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “styling” - see the side-by-side comparison. stealing vs styling
- 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.