stoat
/ˈstəʊt/
"stoat" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“stoat” is uncommon English (frequency #91,023 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #91,023
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Mustela erminea, the ermine or short-tailed weasel, a mustelid native to Eurasia and North America, distinguished from the least weasel by its larger size and longer tail with a prominent black tip.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | stoat |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈstəʊt/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #91,023 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “stoat” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
stoat is uncommon English at frequency #91,023 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈstəʊt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Mustela erminea, the ermine or short-tailed weasel, a mustelid native to Eurasia and North America, distinguished from the least weasel by its larger size and longer tail with a prominent black tip.".
stoat doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English stote (“the ermine, especially in its brown summer coat”), of uncertain origin. The word bears some resemblance to Old Norse stutr (“bull”), Swedish stut (“bull, steer”) and Danish stud (“steer”) (see also English stot), but the semantic… The correct English form is stoat, spelled S-T-O-A-T.
Definition
- 1Mustela erminea, the ermine or short-tailed weasel, a mustelid native to Eurasia and North America, distinguished from the least weasel by its larger size and longer tail with a prominent black tip.
Etymology
From Middle English stote (“the ermine, especially in its brown summer coat”), of uncertain origin. The word bears some resemblance to Old Norse stutr (“bull”), Swedish stut (“bull, steer”) and Danish stud (“steer”) (see also English stot), but the semantic link is difficult unless a common origin is from “(brown?) male mammal”. First attested in the mid 1400s.
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 “stoat”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-O-A-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈstəʊt/ (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.