stew

/stʃʉː/

//stʃʉː// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"stew" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“stew” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #15,516. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#15,516
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A cooking-dish used for boiling; a cauldron.

Corpus desk

Index EN-stew · stew · English

stew · rank #15,516 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #15,516
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH squat

Nearest frequency peer: squat (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “stew”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “stew” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

stew vs SW
0% similar
stew vs sue
50% similar
stew vs STR
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for stew
PropertyValue
Headwordstew
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/stʃʉː/
Letters4
Frequency rank#15,516
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “stew”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).stewlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “squat” (#15,515), “Stirling” (#15,517), “spinach” (#15,514). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “stew” is #15,516. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around stew (IPA /stʃʉː/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #15,516 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 9 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for stew, with forms such as "setw", "sstew", and "steww". 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, "SW", "sue", "STR", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English stewe, stue, from Anglo-Norman estouve, Old French estuve (“bath, bathhouse”) (modern French étuve), from Medieval Latin stupha, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Vulgar Latin *extufāre, from ex- + Ancient Greek τῦφος (tûphos, “smoke, st… The correct English form is stew, spelled S-T-E-W.

Definition

  1. 1
    A cooking-dish used for boiling; a cauldron.
  2. 2
    A heated bath-room or steam-room; also, a hot bath.
  3. 3
    A brothel.
  4. 4
    A prostitute.
  5. 5
    A dish cooked by stewing.
  6. 6
    A pool in which fish are kept in preparation for eating.
  7. 7
    An artificial bed of oysters.
  8. 8
    A state of agitated excitement, worry, or confusion.
  9. 9
    Unwanted background noise recorded by the microphone.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how stew appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. And when he came to the chamber there as this lady was the dores of yron vnlocked and vnbolted / And so syr launcelot wente in to the chambre that was as hote as ony stewe / And there syr launcelot toke the fayrest lady by the hand / that euer he sawe / and she was naked as a nedel And when he came to the chamber thereas this lady was, the doors of iron u…
  2. [...] and the agrieved person shall doe more manly, to be extraordinary and singular in claiming the due right whereof he is frustrated, then to piece up his lost contentment by visiting the Stews, or stepping to his neighbours bed, which is the common shift in this mis-fortune, or els by suffering his usefull life to wast away and be lost under a secret…

Etymology

From Middle English stewe, stue, from Anglo-Norman estouve, Old French estuve (“bath, bathhouse”) (modern French étuve), from Medieval Latin stupha, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Vulgar Latin *extufāre, from ex- + Ancient Greek τῦφος (tûphos, “smoke, steam”), from τύφω (túphō, “to smoke”). See also Italian stufare, Portuguese estufar. Compare also Old English stuf-bæþ (“a hot-air bath, vapour bath”); see stove.

Synonyms

casserolehotpot

This word in other languages

guisado(Español)ragoût(Français)Eintopf(Deutsch)cozido(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • setw
  • sstew
  • steww
  • sttew
  • stwe
  • tsew

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of stew - 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.

setw2sstew1steww1sttew1stwe2tsew2
Edit distance from "stew"

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 "stew"?
"stew" is spelled S-T-E-W. The IPA pronunciation is /stʃʉː/.
What does "stew" mean?
As a noun, "stew" means: A cooking-dish used for boiling; a cauldron.
What words are commonly confused with "stew"?
"stew" is commonly confused with "SW", "sue", "STR". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "stew"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "stew" is /stʃʉː/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "stew"?
From Middle English stewe, stue, from Anglo-Norman estouve, Old French estuve (“bath, bathhouse”) (modern French étuve), from Medieval Latin stupha, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Vulgar Latin *extufāre, from ex- + Ancient Greek τῦφος (tûphos, ... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "stew", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

sooo#15,510thug#15,532punt#15,485alto#15,565

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

rinse6 variantspans6 variantsmeats6 variantschar6 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list