Which to use
“skates” and “statues” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,972
- “skates” frequency rank
- #12,148
- “statues” frequency rank
- 32120
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | skates | statues |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of skate | plural of statue |
Where the eye mixes skates and statues
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. skates runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against statues's 7 (CCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between skates and statues
A purely visual mix-up. skates (/skeɪts/) and statues (/ˈstæt͡ʃ.uːz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32120, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
skates is recorded at frequency rank #19,972, classified as anoun, pronounced /skeɪts/. statues is at rank #12,148, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈstæt͡ʃ.uːz/.
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 32120, this pair ranks #340,486 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of skates vs statues
Shared letters: aest. Private to "skates": k. Private to "statues": u.
"skates" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "statues" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "skates" and "statues" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "skates" or "statues" show up more?
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 "skates" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "statues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #340,486 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "skates" and "statues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sate vs skates". 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 #340,486 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.