Which to use
“sepsis” and “stasis” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,714
- “sepsis” frequency rank
- #29,480
- “stasis” frequency rank
- 58194
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sepsis | stasis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A serious medical condition in which the whole body is inflamed, causing injury to its own tissues and organs as a response to infection. | A slackening or arrest of the blood current, due not to a lessening of the heart’s beat, but to some abnormal resistance of the capillary walls. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sepsis and stasis apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
sepsis and stasis form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58194, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sepsis is recorded at frequency rank #28,714, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɛpsɪs/. stasis is at rank #29,480, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsteɪsɪs/.
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 58194, this pair ranks #114,216 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sepsis" and "stasis" be used interchangeably?
Remembering sepsis vs stasis
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sepsis” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable