stinking
/ˈstɪŋkɪŋ/
"stinking" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“stinking” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #27,658 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #27,658
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Having a pungent smell.
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 | stinking |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈstɪŋkɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #27,658 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “stinking” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for stinking is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈstɪŋkɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #27,658 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 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 stinking, with forms such as "sitnking", "sstinking", and "stikning". 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, "stoning", "stunning", "striking", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English stynkynge, stinkinge, stinkinde, stinkende, stynkande, stynkand, from Old English stincende, from Proto-Germanic *stinkwandz (“stinking”), present participle of Proto-Germanic *stinkwaną (“to stink”), equivalent to stink + -ing. Cognate … The correct English form is stinking, spelled S-T-I-N-K-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1Having a pungent smell.
- 2Very bad and undesirable.
- 3Very drunk.
- 4An intensifier, a hypallage.
Etymology
From Middle English stynkynge, stinkinge, stinkinde, stinkende, stynkande, stynkand, from Old English stincende, from Proto-Germanic *stinkwandz (“stinking”), present participle of Proto-Germanic *stinkwaną (“to stink”), equivalent to stink + -ing. Cognate with Dutch stinkend (“stinking, stinky”), German stinkend (“stinking, stinky”), Danish stinkende (“stinking, stinky”), Norwegian stinkende (“stinking, stinky”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: sitnking,sstinking,stikning,stinikng,stinkign,stinkingg,stinkinng,stinkking,stinknig,stinnking,stniking,sttinking,tsinking
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of stinking - 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
How do you spell "stinking"?
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Using “stinking”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-I-N-K-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈstɪŋkɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “stoning” - see the side-by-side comparison. stinking vs stoning
- 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.