stele
/ˈstiːli/noun
stele is spelled S-T-E-L-E: 5 letters. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 63,645th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, stele means “An upright (or formerly upright) slab containing engraved or painted decorations or inscriptions; a stela” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of stele is steles or stelai.
How many letters and syllables are in stele?
| Letters | 5: S-T-E-L-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 63,645th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is stele?
Stele appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 63,645th 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 stele?
- /ˈstiːli/
- /stiːl/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-steely.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with stele
Sounds like: steelie, steely (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with stele?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as stele.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: steel, sleet.
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).
Forms of stele
- steles plural
- stelai plural
- stélé
- stelè
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does stele mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An upright (or formerly upright) slab containing engraved or painted decorations or inscriptions; a stela.
- 2
Any carved or engraved surface.
- 3
obsoleteAn acroterion, the decoration on the ridge of an ancient Greek building such as a temple.
Stele. The ornaments on the ridge of a Greek temple, answering to the antefixæ on the summit of the flank entablatures, are thus designated.
- 4
The central core of a plant's root and stem system, especially including the vascular tissue and developed from the plerome.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Stele in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense archaeology: tall, slender stone monument:
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 stele come from?
From Ancient Greek στήλη (stḗlē, “upright rock; pillar; column”), plural form στῆλαι (stêlai). Doublet of stela.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).