searedvsstatedConfusable pair

Quick tell: seared is a adjective, stated is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“seared” is an adjective and “stated” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,840
“seared” frequency rank
#1,880
“stated” frequency rank
35720
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seared stated
Definition blackened by heat; scorched; burned simple past and past participle of state

Letter map: seared vs stated

Shared letters muted; letters that set seared and stated apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
seared
6 ch
stated

Grammar separator: seared vs stated

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: seared is anadjective and statedaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35720, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seared is recorded at frequency rank #33,840, classified as anadj. stated is at rank #1,880, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈsteɪtɪd/.

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 35720, this pair ranks #309,500 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of seared vs stated

Shared letters: ades. Private to "seared": r. Private to "stated": t.

"seared" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "stated" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • searedesared · saered · seaerd · searde · searedd · searred · seraed · sseared
  • statedsatted · sstated · staetd · statde · statedd · statted · sttaed · sttated

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "seared" and "stated" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "seared" is an adjective and "stated" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "seared" vs "stated" - which ranks higher?
"stated" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,880 in our English list, against #33,840 for "seared". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "seared" and "stated".

  • Full dictionary entry for "seared" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stated" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #309,500 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seared" and "stated" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Seager vs seared". 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 #309,500 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list