stool
/stuːl/noun, verb
stool is spelled S-T-O-O-L: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.3 times per million words in written English, the 14,509th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, stool means “A seat for one person without a back or armrests” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of stool is stools.
How many letters and syllables are in stool?
| Letters | 5: S-T-O-O-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.3 times per million words; the 14,509th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| 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 stool?
Stool appears 3.3 times per million words in written English, the 14,509th 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 stool?
- /stuːl/
- /stʉl/
Stool 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: En-us-stool.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with stool
Also written: stole.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with stool?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as stool.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: sloot, lotos.
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 stool
- stools plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- stoole
- stooling participle, present
- stooled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does stool mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A seat for one person without a back or armrests.
- 2
A footstool.
- 3
ScotlandA seat with a back; a chair.
- 4
ScotlandA throne.
- 5
A royal seat; a chief's throne.
- 6
A plant that has been cut down until its main stem is close to the ground, resembling a stool, to promote new growth.
- 7
datedA close-stool; a seat used for urination and defecation: a chamber pot, commode, outhouse seat, or toilet.
- 8
Feces; excrement.
I provided the doctor with stool samples.
- 9
rareAlternative form of stole (“plant from which layers are propagated by bending its branches into the soil; stolon.”).
verb
- 1
To produce stool: to defecate.
- 2
To cut down (a plant) until its main stem is close to the ground, resembling a stool, to promote new growth.
- 3
To ramify; to tiller, as grain; to shoot out suckers.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Stool in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | tabouret , selle |
| German | Hocker, Taburett, Schemel , Stuhl, Stuhlgang, Exkrement |
| Portuguese | banquinho, banco, banqueta, tamborete , cocô, merda |
| Spanish | taburete, banqueta, taurete, banquillo, banquito, sitial |
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 stool come from?
From Middle English stool, from Old English stōl (“chair, seat”), from Proto-West Germanic *stōl, from Proto-Germanic *stōlaz (“chair”), from Proto-Indo-European *stoh₂los (“frame, rack, stand”), from *steh₂- (“to stand”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).