Which to use
“slaves” and “states” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,266
- “slaves” frequency rank
- #282
- “states” frequency rank
- 5548
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | slaves | states |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of slave | plural of state |
Where the eye mixes slaves and states
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. slaves and states follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between slaves and states
A purely visual mix-up. slaves (/sleɪvz/) 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 5548, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
slaves is recorded at frequency rank #5,266, classified as anoun, pronounced /sleɪvz/. 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 5548, this pair ranks #514,919 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of slaves vs states
Shared letters: aes. Private to "slaves": lv. Private to "states": t.
"slaves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "states" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "slaves" and "states" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "slaves" vs "states" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "slaves" 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 #514,919 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "slaves" and "states" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "slaves vs staves". 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 #514,919 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.