Which to use
“shaves” and “states” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,085
- “shaves” frequency rank
- #282
- “states” frequency rank
- 39367
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shaves | states |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of shave | plural of state |
Where the eye mixes shaves and states
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. shaves and states follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses shaves with states
A purely visual mix-up. shaves (/ʃeɪvz/) and states (/steɪts/) 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 39367, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shaves is recorded at frequency rank #39,085, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃeɪvz/. states is at rank #282, tagged as anoun, pronounced /steɪts/.
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 39367, this pair ranks #277,358 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of shaves vs states
Shared letters: aes. Private to "shaves": hv. Private to "states": t.
"shaves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "states" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "shaves" for "states" ever safe?
Which is more common, "shaves" or "states"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "shaves" and "states" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "shaves" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "states" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #277,358 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shaves" and "states" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shaper vs shaves". 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 #277,358 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.