Which to use
“spate” and “states” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,701
- “spate” frequency rank
- #282
- “states” frequency rank
- 37983
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spate | states |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A (sudden) flood or inundation of water; specifically, a flood in or overflow of a river or other watercourse due to heavy rain or melting snow; (uncountable, archaic) flooding, inundation. | plural of state |
Where the eye mixes spate and states
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. spate runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against states's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: spate vs states
A purely visual mix-up. spate (/speɪt/) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37983, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spate is recorded at frequency rank #37,701, classified as anoun, pronounced /speɪt/. 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 37983, this pair ranks #289,849 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of spate vs states
Shared letters: aest. Private to "spate": p. Private to "states": -.
"spate" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "states" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "spate" and "states" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "spate" or "states"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "spate" and "states" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "spate" 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 #289,849 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spate" and "states" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sate vs spate". 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 #289,849 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.