straw
/stɹɔː/
"straw" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“straw” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,294 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,294
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A dried stalk of a cereal plant.
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 | straw |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /stɹɔː/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #7,294 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “straw” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for straw is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /stɹɔː/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,294 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 6 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 straw, with forms such as "srtaw", "sstraw", and "starw". 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, "sura", "strip", "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 straw, from Old English strēaw, from Proto-West Germanic *strau, from Proto-Germanic *strawą (“that which is strewn, straw”), from Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread around, strew”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Sträi (“straw”), W… The correct English form is straw, spelled S-T-R-A-W.
Definition
- 1A dried stalk of a cereal plant.
- 2Such dried stalks considered collectively; this bulk matter may be a chief salable product, a by-product, fodder, bedding, or green manure, depending on region and on current market conditions.
- 3A drinking straw.
- 4A pale, yellowish beige colour, like that of a dried straw.
- 5Anything proverbially worthless; the least possible thing.
- 6A straw owner.
Etymology
From Middle English straw, from Old English strēaw, from Proto-West Germanic *strau, from Proto-Germanic *strawą (“that which is strewn, straw”), from Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread around, strew”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Sträi (“straw”), West Frisian strie (“straw”), Dutch stro (“straw”), German Low German Stroh (“straw”), German Stroh (“straw”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish strå (“straw”), Icelandic strá (“straw”), Walloon strin, Albanian shtrohë (“kennel”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: srtaw,sstraw,starw,straww,strraw,strwa,sttraw,tsraw
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of straw - 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.
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 “straw”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-R-A-W - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /stɹɔː/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “sura” - see the side-by-side comparison. straw vs sura
- 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.