storey
/ˈstɔː.ɹɪ/
"storey" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“storey” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #12,868 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #12,868
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A floor or level of a building or ship.
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 | storey |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈstɔː.ɹɪ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #12,868 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “storey” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for storey is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈstɔː.ɹɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,868 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for storey, with forms such as "sotrey", "sstorey", and "stoery". 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, "story", "storm", "stray", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English story, via Medieval Latin historia (“narrative, illustraton, frieze”) from Ancient Greek ἱστορίᾱ (historíā, “learning through research”). The current sense arose from narrative friezes on upper levels of medieval buildings, esp. churches… The correct English form is storey, spelled S-T-O-R-E-Y.
Definition
- 1A floor or level of a building or ship.
- 2A vertical level in certain letters, such as a and g.
- 3A building; an edifice.
Etymology
From Middle English story, via Medieval Latin historia (“narrative, illustraton, frieze”) from Ancient Greek ἱστορίᾱ (historíā, “learning through research”). The current sense arose from narrative friezes on upper levels of medieval buildings, esp. churches. Doublet of story and history. An alternative etymology derives Middle English story from Old French *estoree (“a thing built, building”), from estoree (“built”), feminine past participle of estorer (“to build”), from Latin instaurare (“to construct, build, erect”), but this seems unlikely since historia already had the meaning "storey of a building" in Anglo-Latin.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: sotrey,sstorey,stoery,storeyy,storrey,storye,stroey,sttorey,tsorey
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of storey - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "storey"?
What does "storey" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "storey"?
How do you pronounce "storey"?
What is the origin of the word "storey"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “storey”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-O-R-E-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈstɔː.ɹɪ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “story” - see the side-by-side comparison. storey vs story
- 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.