Long words are more often stuttered than shorter ones, whether length is measured in syllables or letters. Words with two or more syllables and five or more letters are stuttered more often than shorter words. More stutters occur on words of low frequency than on words of high frequency. This may be because low frequency words are generally longer than high frequency words. Preschool children appear to stutter more on function words than on content words.
More stutters occur on the first word of sentences than on other words.
More stutters are observed on the first three words than on subsequent words. More stutters occur on initial sentences and paragraphs and at the beginning of discourse than in later parts. More stutters occur on longer sentences than on shorter ones. Same words read as a list tend to be stuttered less than when they are read as part of a sentence. There are many well-known conditions in which stuttering temporarily disappears or is significantly reduced.