Which to use
“snuff” and “stuffs” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,003
- “snuff” frequency rank
- #24,328
- “stuffs” frequency rank
- 48331
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | snuff | stuffs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Finely ground or pulverized tobacco (or other plant derivative) intended for use by being sniffed or snorted into the nose. | plural of stuff |
Where the eye mixes snuff and stuffs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. snuff runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against stuffs's 6 (CCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses snuff with stuffs
A purely visual mix-up. snuff (/snʌf/) and stuffs (/stʌfs/) 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 48331, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
snuff is recorded at frequency rank #24,003, classified as anoun, pronounced /snʌf/. stuffs is at rank #24,328, tagged as anoun, pronounced /stʌfs/.
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 48331, this pair ranks #194,074 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of snuff vs stuffs
Shared letters: fsu. Private to "snuff": n. Private to "stuffs": t.
"snuff" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "stuffs" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "snuff" and "stuffs" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "snuff" or "stuffs"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "snuff" and "stuffs" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "snuff" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stuffs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #194,074 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "snuff" and "stuffs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scruff vs snuff". 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 #194,074 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.