stony
/ˈstəʊni/
"stony" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“stony” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #19,707 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #19,707
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - As hard as stone.
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 | stony |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈstəʊni/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #19,707 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “stony” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for stony is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈstəʊni/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,707 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 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for stony, with forms such as "sotny", "sstony", and "stnoy". 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, "stop", "stun", "stow", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English stony, stoni, stani, from Old English stāniġ, stǣniġ (“stony, rocky”), from Proto-Germanic *stainagaz (“stony”), equivalent to stone + -y. Cognate with Scots stany (“stony”), West Frisian stienich (“stony”), Dutch stenig (“stony, metalle… The correct English form is stony, spelled S-T-O-N-Y.
Definition
- 1As hard as stone.
- 2Containing or made up of stones.
- 3Lacking warmth and emotion.
- 4Showing no warmth of emotion; (usually also) emotionally cold, silent, and motionless or nearly so.
- 5Ellipsis of stony broke: without any money.
Etymology
From Middle English stony, stoni, stani, from Old English stāniġ, stǣniġ (“stony, rocky”), from Proto-Germanic *stainagaz (“stony”), equivalent to stone + -y. Cognate with Scots stany (“stony”), West Frisian stienich (“stony”), Dutch stenig (“stony, metalled”), German steinig (“stony, rocky, gravelly”), Swedish stenig (“stony, rocky, pebbly”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: sotny,sstony,stnoy,stonny,stonyy,stoyn,sttony,tsony
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of stony - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “stony”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-O-N-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈstəʊni/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “stop” - see the side-by-side comparison. stony vs stop
- 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.