stymie
/ˈstaɪmi/
"stymie" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“stymie” is uncommon English (frequency #79,091 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #79,091
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A situation where an opponent's ball is directly in the way of one's own ball and the hole, on the putting green (abolished 1952).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | stymie |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈstaɪmi/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #79,091 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “stymie” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
stymie is uncommon English at frequency #79,091 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈstaɪmi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for stymie, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From the meaning in golf (where the stymie ball blocks the other ball from "seeing" the hole), perhaps from Scots stymie, stimie (“person with poor eyesight”), from Scots stime (“the least bit”). Or from Scots styme (“tiny bit, glimmer”) as in se nocht ane … The correct English form is stymie, spelled S-T-Y-M-I-E.
Definition
- 1A situation where an opponent's ball is directly in the way of one's own ball and the hole, on the putting green (abolished 1952).
- 2An obstacle or obstruction.
Etymology
From the meaning in golf (where the stymie ball blocks the other ball from "seeing" the hole), perhaps from Scots stymie, stimie (“person with poor eyesight”), from Scots stime (“the least bit”). Or from Scots styme (“tiny bit, glimmer”) as in se nocht ane styme (“not to see a glimmer (of something)”). If so, it is a doublet of stime.
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 “stymie”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-Y-M-I-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈstaɪmi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.