SoamesvsstaresWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Soames is a name, stares is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Soames” is a name and “stares” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,927
“Soames” frequency rank
#19,214
“stares” frequency rank
63141
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Soames stares
Definition A surname. plural of stare

Letter map: Soames vs stares

Shared letters muted; letters that set Soames and stares apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. Soames (CVVCVC) and stares (CCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
Soames
6 ch
stares

Grammar separator: Soames vs stares

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Soames is aname and staresanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63141, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Soames is recorded at frequency rank #43,927, classified as aname. stares is at rank #19,214, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈstɛəz/.

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 63141, this pair ranks #84,644 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Soames vs stares

Shared letters: aes. Private to "Soames": mo. Private to "stares": rt.

"Soames" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "stares" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Soames ← osames · saomes · soaems · soamess · soammes · soamse · somaes · ssoames
  • stares ← satres · sstares · staers · staress · starres · starse · straes · sttares

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Soames" and "stares" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Soames" is a name and "stares" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "Soames" or "stares" show up more?
"stares" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,214 in our English list, against #43,927 for "Soames". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "Soames" vs "stares" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Soames" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stares" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #84,644 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Soames" and "stares" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Soames 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 #84,644 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list