stole
/stoʊl/noun, verb
stole is spelled S-T-O-L-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,025th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, stole means “A garment consisting of a decorated band worn on the back of the neck, each end hanging over the chest, worn in ecclesiastical settings or sometimes…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of stole is stoles.
How many letters and syllables are in stole?
| Letters | 5: S-T-O-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 16 times per million words; the 5,025th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is stole?
Stole appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,025th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce stole?
- UK /stəʊl/
- US /stoʊl/
Stole has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Pvanp7-stole.wav, En-us-stole.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with stole
Also written: stool.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with stole?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as stole from its last stressed vowel (/oʊl/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: telos.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of stole
- stoles plural
- stoal
- stoale
- stolle
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does stole mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A garment consisting of a decorated band worn on the back of the neck, each end hanging over the chest, worn in ecclesiastical settings or sometimes as a part of graduation dress, corresponding to the Eastern epitrachelion.
- 2
A scarf-like garment, often made of fur.
- 3
A stolon.
verb
- 1
simple past of steal
- 2
archaiccolloquialpast participle of steal
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Stole in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense ecclesiastical garment:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does stole come from?
From Old English stole, from Latin stola, from Ancient Greek στολή (stolḗ, “stole, garment, equipment”); akin to stall. Doublet of stola.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).