stood

/stʊd/

//stʊd// verb

"stood" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“stood” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,645 in English word frequency and used as a verb.

#2,645
frequency rank, English
5
letters
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - simple past and past participle of stand

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

stood vs stop
60% similar
stood vs stud
60% similar
stood vs stow
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for stood
PropertyValue
Headwordstood
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/stʊd/
Letters5
Frequency rank#2,645
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “stood” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). stood lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for stood is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /stʊd/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,645 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "simple past and past participle of stand".

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for stood, with forms such as "sotod", "sstood", and "stod". 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", "stud", "stow", 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 stod, from Old English stōd, from Proto-Germanic *stōþ, *stōd-, past tense of *standaną (“to stand”). The correct English form is stood, spelled S-T-O-O-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    simple past and past participle of stand

Etymology

From Middle English stod, from Old English stōd, from Proto-Germanic *stōþ, *stōd-, past tense of *standaną (“to stand”).

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: sotod,sstood,stod,stodo,stoodd,sttood,tsood

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of stood - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

sotod2sstood1stod1stodo2stoodd1sttood1tsood2
Edit distance from "stood"

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 "stood"?
"stood" is spelled S-T-O-O-D. The IPA pronunciation is /stʊd/.
What does "stood" mean?
As a verb, "stood" means: simple past and past participle of stand
What words are commonly confused with "stood"?
"stood" is commonly confused with "stop", "stud", "stow". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "stood"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "stood" is /stʊd/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "stood"?
From Middle English stod, from Old English stōd, from Proto-Germanic *stōþ, *stōd-, past tense of *standaną (“to stand”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “stood”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is S-T-O-O-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /stʊd/ (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. stood 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list