Skip to main content
PlainSpell

stuff

/stʌf/noun, verb

stuff is spelled S-T-U-F-F: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 138 times per million words in written English, the 756th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, stuff means “Miscellaneous items or objects; (with possessive) personal effects” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of stuff is stuffs.

How many letters and syllables are in stuff?

Letters5: S-T-U-F-F
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing138 times per million words; the 756th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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 stuff?

Stuff appears 138 times per million words in written English, the 756th 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 stuff?

  • US /stʌf/
  • Australia /stɐf/
  • /stʊf/

Stuff 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-stuff.ogg, En-au-stuff.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-stuff.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with stuff?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as stuff from its last stressed vowel (/ʌf/):

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 stuff

  • stuffs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • stuffing participle, present
  • stuffed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does stuff mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    informalMiscellaneous items or objects; (with possessive) personal effects.

    What is all that stuff on your bedroom floor? He didn't want his pockets to bulge so he was walking around with all his stuff in his hands.

  2. 2

    informalobsoleteFurniture; goods; domestic vessels or utensils.

  3. 3

    informalUnspecified things or matters.

    I had to do some stuff.

  4. 4

    The tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object.

    Near-synonyms: constituents, ingredients; see also Thesaurus:substance

  5. 5

    archaicA material for making clothing; any woven textile, but especially a woollen fabric.

  6. 6

    archaicBoards used for building.

  7. 7

    Abstract/figurative substance or character.

  8. 8

    datedPulp; paper stock ground ready for use. When partly ground, it is called half stuff.

verb

  1. 1

    To fill by packing or crowding something into; to cram with something; to load to excess.

    I'm going to stuff this pillow with feathers.

  2. 2

    To fill a space with (something) in a compressed manner.

    He stuffed his clothes into the closet and shut the door.

  3. 3

    To fill with seasoning.

    She stuffed the turkey for Thanksgiving using her secret recipe.

  4. 4

    To load goods into (a container) for transport.

  5. 5

    To sate.

    I’m stuffed after having eaten all that turkey, mashed potatoes and delicious stuffing.

  6. 6

    To eat, especially in a hearty or greedy manner.

    She sits on the sofa all day, watching TV and stuffing herself with cream buns.

  7. 7

    AustraliaUKTo break; to destroy.

    He skidded off the road and totally stuffed his brand new car.

  8. 8

    AustraliaUKvulgarTo sexually penetrate.

    His wife came home early and found him on the couch stuffing the maid.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Stuff in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtruc (miscellaneous items; things), bourrer, farcir, fourrer, truffer (to fill by crowding into), péter (to break)
GermanSachen, Kram, Zeug, Ding (miscellaneous items; things), ausstopfen (to fill by crowding into), Stoff (the tangible substance that goes into the…)
Portuguesecoisas, negócio (miscellaneous items; things), entupir (to fill by crowding into), material (the tangible substance that goes into the…), socar (to fill a space with (something) in a…), empalhar (to preserve a dead animal)
Spanishcosas, bártulos, trastos (miscellaneous items; things), lo de (the tangible substance that goes into the…), cosa, coso (word substituted for material of unknown type…)

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 stuff come from?

From Middle English stuf, stuffe, from Anglo-Latin stuffa and its etymon Old French estofe, estoffe, estuf, estuffe, stoffe, from estoffer, estofer (“to provide what is necessary, equip, stuff”), borrowed from Old High German stoffōn, from Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn (“to clog up, block, fill”). More at stop.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after stuff