stile
/staɪl/
"stile" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“stile” is uncommon English (frequency #60,491 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #60,491
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A set of one or more steps surmounting a fence or wall, or a narrow gate or contrived passage through a fence or wall, which in either case allows people but not livestock to pass.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | stile |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /staɪl/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #60,491 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “stile” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
stile is uncommon English at frequency #60,491 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /staɪl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
stile doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English stile, style, stiȝele, from Old English stiġel (“stile, set of steps for getting over a fence”), from Proto-West Germanic *stigilu, from Proto-Germanic *stigilō (“entry, entrance, overpass, device for climbing, stile”), equivalent to sty… The correct English form is stile, spelled S-T-I-L-E.
Definition
- 1A set of one or more steps surmounting a fence or wall, or a narrow gate or contrived passage through a fence or wall, which in either case allows people but not livestock to pass.
- 2A vertical component of a frame or panel, such as that of a door, window, or ladder.
Etymology
From Middle English stile, style, stiȝele, from Old English stiġel (“stile, set of steps for getting over a fence”), from Proto-West Germanic *stigilu, from Proto-Germanic *stigilō (“entry, entrance, overpass, device for climbing, stile”), equivalent to sty (“to ascend, climb”) + -le. Cognate with Dutch stegel (“stirrup”), Low German Stegel (“stile”), German Stiegel (“stile”).
This word in other languages
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 “stile”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-I-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /staɪl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.