stub

/stʌb/

//stʌb// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"stub" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“stub” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #26,270. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#26,270
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Something blunted, stunted, or cut short, such as stubble or a stump.

Corpus desk

Index EN-stub · stub · English

stub · rank #26,270 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #26,270
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH stroller

Nearest frequency peer: stroller (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “stub”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “stub” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

stub vs su
50% similar
stub vs sun
50% similar
stub vs sub
75% similar

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

Key facts for stub
PropertyValue
Headwordstub
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/stʌb/
Letters4
Frequency rank#26,270
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “stub”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).stublands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “stroller” (#26,269), “subgroup” (#26,271), “strewn” (#26,268). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “stub” is #26,270. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around stub (IPA /stʌb/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #26,270 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 15 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for stub, with forms such as "sstub", "stbu", and "sttub". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "su", "sun", "sub", 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 stubbe (“tree stump”), from Old English stybb, stubb (“tree stump”), from Proto-West Germanic *stubb, from Proto-Germanic *stubbaz (compare Middle Dutch stubbe, Old Norse stubbr, Faroese stubbi (“stub”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tew… The correct English form is stub, spelled S-T-U-B.

Definition

  1. 1
    Something blunted, stunted, or cut short, such as stubble or a stump.
  2. 2
    A piece of certain paper items, designed to be torn off and kept for record or identification purposes.
  3. 3
    A placeholder procedure that has the signature of the planned procedure but does not yet implement the intended behavior.
  4. 4
    A procedure that translates requests from external systems into a format suitable for processing and then submits those requests for processing.
  5. 5
    A row heading in a table (with horizontal reference, whereas a column heading has vertical reference).
  6. 6
    An article providing only minimal information and intended for later development.
  7. 7
    A length of transmission line or waveguide that is connected at one end only.
  8. 8
    The remaining part of the docked tail of a dog
  9. 9
    An unequal first or last interest calculation period, as a part of a financial swap contract
  10. 10
    A log or block of wood.
  11. 11
    A blockhead.
  12. 12
    A pen with a short, blunt nib.
  13. 13
    An old and worn horseshoe nail.
  14. 14
    Stub iron.
  15. 15
    The smallest remainder of a smoked cigarette; a butt.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how stub appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. And prickly stubs instead of trees are found.
  2. payment stub

Etymology

From Middle English stubbe (“tree stump”), from Old English stybb, stubb (“tree stump”), from Proto-West Germanic *stubb, from Proto-Germanic *stubbaz (compare Middle Dutch stubbe, Old Norse stubbr, Faroese stubbi (“stub”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tew-; compare steep (“sharp slope”). Doublet of stob. Sense extended in Middle English to similarly shaped objects. Verb sense “strike one’s toe” is recorded 1848; “extinguish a cigarette” 1927.

This word in other languages

tocón(Español)souche(Français)Stummel(Deutsch)talão(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • sstub
  • stbu
  • sttub
  • stubb
  • sutb
  • tsub

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of stub - 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.

sstub1stbu2sttub1stubb1sutb2tsub2
Edit distance from "stub"

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 "stub"?
"stub" is spelled S-T-U-B. The IPA pronunciation is /stʌb/.
What does "stub" mean?
As a noun, "stub" means: Something blunted, stunted, or cut short, such as stubble or a stump.
What words are commonly confused with "stub"?
"stub" is commonly confused with "su", "sun", "sub". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "stub"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "stub" is /stʌb/. 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 "stub"?
From Middle English stubbe (“tree stump”), from Old English stybb, stubb (“tree stump”), from Proto-West Germanic *stubb, from Proto-Germanic *stubbaz (compare Middle Dutch stubbe, Old Norse stubbr, Faroese stubbi (“stub”)), from Proto-Indo-Europe... 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "stub", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

tact#26,277veal#26,298webs#26,306zeta#26,311

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

Reddy6 variantspuffs6 variantsblob6 variantsboyz6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list