sturdy
/ˈstɜːdi/
"sturdy" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sturdy” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #16,363 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #16,363
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 19
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of firm build; stiff; stout; strong.
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 | sturdy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈstɜːdi/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #16,363 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 19 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sturdy” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sturdy is 6 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈstɜːdi/. Corpus data places it at rank #16,363 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for sturdy, with forms such as "ssturdy", "strudy", and "stturdy". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 19 confusable-pair relationships, "surly", "sturt", "Sturm", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sturdy, stourdy, stordy (“bold, valiant, strong, stern, fierce, rebellious”) (perhaps influenced by Middle English sture, stoure, stor (“strong, robust, harsh, stern, violent, fierce, sturdy”); see English stour), from Old French estourd… The correct English form is sturdy, spelled S-T-U-R-D-Y.
Definition
- 1Of firm build; stiff; stout; strong.
- 2Solid in structure or person.
- 3Foolishly obstinate or resolute; stubborn.
- 4Resolute, in a good sense; or firm, unyielding quality.
Etymology
From Middle English sturdy, stourdy, stordy (“bold, valiant, strong, stern, fierce, rebellious”) (perhaps influenced by Middle English sture, stoure, stor (“strong, robust, harsh, stern, violent, fierce, sturdy”); see English stour), from Old French estourdi (“dazed”), form of estourdir, originally “to daze, to make tipsy (almost drunk)” (Modern French étourdir (“to daze, to make tipsy”)), from Vulgar Latin *exturdire. Latin etymology is unclear – presumably it is ex- + turdus (“thrush (bird)”), but how this should mean “daze” is unclear. A speculative theory is that thrushes eat leftover winery grapes and thus became drunk, but this meets with objections. Disease in cows and sheep is by extension of sense of “daze”, while sense of “strongly built” is of late 14th century, and relationship to earlier sense is less clear, perhaps from sense of a firm strike (causing a daze) or a strong, violent person.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ssturdy,strudy,stturdy,studry,sturddy,sturdyy,sturrdy,sturyd,sutrdy,tsurdy
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sturdy - 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 “sturdy”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-U-R-D-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈstɜːdi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “surly” - see the side-by-side comparison. sturdy vs surly
- 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.