shapedvsstapledConfusable pair

Which to use

“shaped” and “stapled” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,784
“shaped” frequency rank
#47,927
“stapled” frequency rank
51711
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shaped stapled
Definition Having been given a shape, especially a curved shape. Fastened with staples.

Letter map: shaped vs stapled

Shared letters muted; letters that set shaped and stapled apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

6 ch
shaped
7 ch
stapled

Corpus notes: shaped and stapled

shaped and stapled are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51711, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

shaped is recorded at frequency rank #3,784, classified as anadj, pronounced /ʃeɪpt/. stapled is at rank #47,927, tagged as anadj.

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 51711, this pair ranks #163,171 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of shaped vs stapled

Shared letters: adeps. Private to "shaped": h. Private to "stapled": lt.

"shaped" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "stapled" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • shapedhsaped · sahped · shaepd · shapde · shapedd · shapped · shhaped · shpaed
  • stapledsatpled · sstapled · stalped · stapeld · staplde · stapledd · staplled · stappled

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "shaped" for "stapled" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary English text, does "shaped" or "stapled" show up more?
"shaped" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,784 in our English list, against #47,927 for "stapled". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

You've compared "shaped" and "stapled". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "shaped" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stapled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #163,171 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "shaped" and "stapled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stapled vs starlet". 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 #163,171 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