Which to use
“spades” and “stade” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,318
- “spades” frequency rank
- #41,387
- “stade” frequency rank
- 65705
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spades | stade |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of spade | Synonym of stadion (“former Greek unit of distance”). |
Where the eye mixes spades and stade
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. spades runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against stade's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between spades and stade
A purely visual mix-up. spades (/speɪdz/) and stade (/steɪd/) 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 65705, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spades is recorded at frequency rank #24,318, classified as anoun, pronounced /speɪdz/. stade is at rank #41,387, tagged as anoun, pronounced /steɪd/.
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 65705, this pair ranks #71,468 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of spades vs stade
Shared letters: ades. Private to "spades": p. Private to "stade": t.
"spades" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "stade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "spades" for "stade" ever safe?
Which is more common, "spades" or "stade"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "spades" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stade" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #71,468 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spades" and "stade" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stade vs staph". 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 #71,468 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.