sterling
/ˈstɜːlɪŋ/
"sterling" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sterling” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #5,842. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #5,842
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An English silver penny first introduced by the Normans.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sterling · sterling · English
sterling · rank #5,842 · 13 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #5,842
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-HIGH 13 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH skilled
Nearest frequency peer: skilled (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “sterling”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- sexually
sexually
94,162 corpus weight
- ski
ski
94,161 corpus weight
- skilled
skilled
94,160 corpus weight
- sterling
sterling
94,159 corpus weight
- Stuart
Stuart
94,158 corpus weight
- surgeon
surgeon
94,157 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “sterling” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 13 spelling variants around sterling (IPA /ˈstɜːlɪŋ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #5,842 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sterling appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Nummus […] is taken for braſſe pens, or els pieces of ſiluer of the valu of a dandiprat or i. d. ob. a pece or there about, ſo that yͤ thouſand peces wer moche about the ſomme of twentie nobles sterlynges [i.e., nobles of sterlings].
"I do not fear your curses," said Philippe [Philip II of France]. "You have no right to pronounce them on the realm of France. Your words smell of English sterlings."
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sterling", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "sterling". Here's where to go from here.
- "sterling" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "string". View pair
- 13 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #5,842 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "S" letter cohort. S–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.