Which to use
“shapely” and “stately” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,631
- “shapely” frequency rank
- #24,600
- “stately” frequency rank
- 74231
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shapely | stately |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having a pleasing shape, pleasant to look at. | Worthy of respect; dignified, regal. |
Where the eye mixes shapely and stately
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between shapely and stately
A purely visual mix-up. shapely (/ˈʃeɪpli/) and stately (/ˈsteɪtli/) 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 74231, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shapely is recorded at frequency rank #49,631, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈʃeɪpli/. stately is at rank #24,600, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈsteɪtli/.
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 74231, this pair ranks #36,993 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shapely vs stately
Shared letters: aelsy. Private to "shapely": hp. Private to "stately": t.
"shapely" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV · "stately" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "shapely" for "stately" ever safe?
Frequency check: "shapely" vs "stately" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "shapely" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stately" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #36,993 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shapely" and "stately" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shapely vs shaper". 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 #36,993 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.