stipend
/ˈstaɪpɛnd/
"stipend" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“stipend” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #28,742 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #28,742
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A regular fixed payment made to someone (especially a clergyman, judge, soldier, or teacher) for services provided by them; a salary.
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 | stipend |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈstaɪpɛnd/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #28,742 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “stipend” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for stipend is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈstaɪpɛnd/. Corpus data places it at rank #28,742 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 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 stipend, with forms such as "sitpend", "sstipend", and "stiepnd". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "suspend", "striped", "spend", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: The noun is derived from Late Middle English stipend, stipende (“salary, wage”) [and other forms], from Old French stipende, stipendie, from Latin stīpendium (“contribution; dues; impost, tax; tribute; military pay or stipend; military service”), from *stip… The correct English form is stipend, spelled S-T-I-P-E-N-D.
Definition
- 1A regular fixed payment made to someone (especially a clergyman, judge, soldier, or teacher) for services provided by them; a salary.
- 2Some other form of fixed (and generally small) payment occurring at regular intervals, such as an allowance, a pension, or (obsolete) a tax.
- 3A scholarship granted to a student.
- 4Money which is earned; an income.
- 5A one-off payment for a service provided.
Etymology
The noun is derived from Late Middle English stipend, stipende (“salary, wage”) [and other forms], from Old French stipende, stipendie, from Latin stīpendium (“contribution; dues; impost, tax; tribute; military pay or stipend; military service”), from *stipipendium, *stippendium, from stips (“alms; contribution, donation, gift”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steyp- (“erect; stiff”)) + pendere (the present active infinitive of pendō (“to cause to hang down or suspend; to weigh, weigh out; (hence) to pay”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to pull; to spin; to stretch”)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates * Italian stipendio * Portuguese estipêndio * Spanish estipendio
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: sitpend,sstipend,stiepnd,stipedn,stipendd,stipennd,stipned,stippend,stpiend,sttipend,tsipend
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of stipend - 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 "stipend"?
What does "stipend" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "stipend"?
How do you pronounce "stipend"?
What is the origin of the word "stipend"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “stipend”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-I-P-E-N-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈstaɪpɛnd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “suspend” - see the side-by-side comparison. stipend vs suspend
- 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.