sterling
/ˈstɜːlɪŋ/
"sterling" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sterling” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,842 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,842
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An English silver penny first introduced by the Normans.
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 | sterling |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈstɜːlɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #5,842 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sterling” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sterling is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈstɜːlɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,842 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for sterling, with forms such as "setrling", "ssterling", and "stelring". 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, "string", "storing", "styling", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Possibly from Old English *steorling, from steorra (“star”) and -ling, in reference to the stars that appeared on certain English pennies. Alternatively, the first element may be *stēre, meaning “strong” or “stout” (compare the etymology of solidus). The correct English form is sterling, spelled S-T-E-R-L-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1An English silver penny first introduced by the Normans.
- 2A penny issued in other countries, such as Scotland.
- 3The currency of the United Kingdom, based on the pound sterling; hence, genuine English or British currency, as contrasted with foreign currency.
- 4Short for sterling silver (“an alloy containing not less than 92.5 percent silver, the remainder usually being copper; articles made from this alloy collectively”).
- 5Former British gold or silver coinage of a standard fineness (0.91666 for gold and 0.925 for silver).
- 6Synonym of pennyweight (“a unit of mass equal to 24 grains, or ¹⁄₂₀ of a troy ounce”)
- 7Money generally.
- 8The standard degree of fineness.
Etymology
Possibly from Old English *steorling, from steorra (“star”) and -ling, in reference to the stars that appeared on certain English pennies. Alternatively, the first element may be *stēre, meaning “strong” or “stout” (compare the etymology of solidus).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: setrling,ssterling,stelring,sterilng,sterlign,sterlingg,sterlinng,sterlling,sterlnig,sterrling,streling,stterling,tserling
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sterling - 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
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Using “sterling”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-E-R-L-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈstɜːlɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “string” - see the side-by-side comparison. sterling vs string
- 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.