Which to use
“slave” and “state” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,270
- “slave” frequency rank
- #163
- “state” frequency rank
- 4433
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | slave | state |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A person who is held in servitude as the property of another person, and whose labor (and often also whose body and life) is subject to the owner's volition and control. | A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time. |
Where the eye mixes slave and state
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses slave with state
A purely visual mix-up. slave (/sleɪv/) and state (/steɪt/) 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 4433, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
slave is recorded at frequency rank #4,270, classified as anoun, pronounced /sleɪv/. state is at rank #163, tagged as anoun, pronounced /steɪt/.
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 4433, this pair ranks #518,949 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of slave vs state
Shared letters: aes. Private to "slave": lv. Private to "state": t.
"slave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "state" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "slave" for "state" ever safe?
Frequency check: "slave" vs "state" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "slave" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "state" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #518,949 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "slave" and "state" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "slave vs SLE". 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 #518,949 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.