sharedvsstatedWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#2,128
“shared” frequency rank
#1,880
“stated” frequency rank
4008
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shared stated
Definition Used by multiple entities or for multiple purposes or in multiple ways. simple past and past participle of state

Where the eye mixes shared and stated

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
shared
6 ch
stated

Visual trap between shared and stated

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: shared is /ʃɛːd/ while stated is /ˈsteɪtɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4008, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

shared is recorded at frequency rank #2,128, classified as anadj, pronounced /ʃɛːd/. 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 4008, this pair ranks #520,297 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of shared vs stated

Shared letters: ades. Private to "shared": hr. Private to "stated": t.

"shared" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "stated" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sharedhsared · sahred · shaerd · sharde · sharedd · sharred · shhared · shraed
  • statedsatted · sstated · staetd · statde · statedd · statted · sttaed · sttated

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "shared" and "stated" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "shared" is an adjective and "stated" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "shared" or "stated" show up more?
"stated" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,880 in our English list, against #2,128 for "shared". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "shared" 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 #520,297 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "shared" and "stated" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stated vs stilted". 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 #520,297 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