SoamesvsstatesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#43,927
“Soames” frequency rank
#282
“states” frequency rank
44209
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Soames states
Definition A surname. plural of state

Letter map: Soames vs states

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

6 ch
Soames
6 ch
states

Part-of-speech tell for Soames / states

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Soames is aname and statesanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44209, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Soames is recorded at frequency rank #43,927, classified as aname. 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 44209, this pair ranks #232,709 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Soames vs states

Shared letters: aes. Private to "Soames": mo. Private to "states": t.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Soames ← osames · saomes · soaems · soamess · soammes · soamse · somaes · ssoames
  • states ← sattes · sstates · staets · statess · statse · stattes · sttaes · sttates

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Soames" and "states" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Soames" is a name and "states" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Soames" or "states"?
"states" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #282 in our English list, against #43,927 for "Soames". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

You've compared "Soames" and "states". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Soames" 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 #232,709 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Soames" and "states" 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 #232,709 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