Which to use
“slate” is a noun and “Slates” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,397
- “slate” frequency rank
- #46,781
- “Slates” frequency rank
- 56178
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | slate | Slates |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A flake or piece of certain types of stone that tend to cleave into thin layers. | A surname. |
Letter map: slate vs Slates
Shared letters muted; letters that set slate and Slates apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. slate runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against Slates's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - slate and Slates
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: slate is anoun and Slatesaname. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “slate” sits inside “Slates”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56178, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
slate is recorded at frequency rank #9,397, classified as anoun, pronounced /sleɪt/. Slates is at rank #46,781, tagged as aname.
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 56178, this pair ranks #128,123 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of slate vs Slates
Shared letters: aelst. Private to "slate": -. Private to "Slates": -.
"slate" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "Slates" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "slate" and "Slates" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "slate" or "Slates" show up more?
After this comparison
You've compared "slate" and "Slates". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "slate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Slates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #128,123 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "slate" and "Slates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sate vs Slates". 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 #128,123 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.