stillness
/ˈstɪlnəs/
"stillness" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“stillness” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #29,846 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #29,846
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The quality or state of being still.
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 | stillness |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈstɪlnəs/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #29,846 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “stillness” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for stillness is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈstɪlnəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #29,846 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for stillness, with forms such as "sitllness", "sstillness", and "stillenss". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "stiffness", "silliness", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English stilnesse, from Old English stilnes (“stillness, quiet; absence of noise or disturbance, release, relaxation; silence, abstention from speech; absence of disturbance or molestation, tranquility, peace, security; that which appeases”), eq… The correct English form is stillness, spelled S-T-I-L-L-N-E-S-S.
Definition
- 1The quality or state of being still.
- 2Habitual silence or quiet; taciturnity.
Etymology
From Middle English stilnesse, from Old English stilnes (“stillness, quiet; absence of noise or disturbance, release, relaxation; silence, abstention from speech; absence of disturbance or molestation, tranquility, peace, security; that which appeases”), equivalent to still + -ness.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: sitllness,sstillness,stillenss,stillnes,stillnness,stillnses,stilness,stilnless,stlilness,sttillness,tsillness
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of stillness - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “stillness”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-I-L-L-N-E-S-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈstɪlnəs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “stiffness” - see the side-by-side comparison. stillness vs stiffness
- 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.