Which to use
“sealed” and “stayed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,917
- “sealed” frequency rank
- #2,864
- “stayed” frequency rank
- 8781
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sealed | stayed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of seal | simple past and past participle of stay |
Where the eye mixes sealed and stayed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between sealed and stayed
A purely visual mix-up. sealed (/siːld/) and stayed (/steɪd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8781, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sealed is recorded at frequency rank #5,917, classified as averb, pronounced /siːld/. stayed is at rank #2,864, tagged as averb, pronounced /steɪd/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 8781, this pair ranks #500,745 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sealed vs stayed
Shared letters: ades. Private to "sealed": l. Private to "stayed": ty.
"sealed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "stayed" · 6 letters · shape CCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sealed" and "stayed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "sealed" vs "stayed" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "sealed" and "stayed" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sealed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stayed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #500,745 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sealed" and "stayed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Seager vs sealed". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #500,745 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.