stabilityvssuitabilityWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“stability” and “suitability” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,271
“stability” frequency rank
#22,235
“suitability” frequency rank
26506
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stability suitability
Definition The condition of being stable or in equilibrium, and thus resistant to change. The quality of being suitable.

Where the eye mixes stability and suitability

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

9 ch
stability
11 ch
suitability

Visual trap between stability and suitability

A purely visual mix-up. stability (/stəˈbɪlɪti/) and suitability (/ˌsjuːtəˈbɪlɪti/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26506, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stability is recorded at frequency rank #4,271, classified as anoun, pronounced /stəˈbɪlɪti/. suitability is at rank #22,235, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˌsjuːtəˈbɪlɪti/.

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 26506, this pair ranks #386,204 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of stability vs suitability

Shared letters: abilsty. Private to "stability": -. Private to "suitability": u.

"stability" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV  ·  "suitability" · 11 letters · shape CVVCVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stabilitysatbility · sstability · stabbility · stabiilty · stabilitty · stabilityy · stabiliyt · stabillity
  • suitabilitysiutability · ssuitability · suiatbility · suitabbility · suitabiilty · suitabilitty · suitabilityy · suitabiliyt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "stability" for "suitability" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/stəˈbɪlɪti/ versus /ˌsjuːtəˈbɪlɪti/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "stability" or "suitability"?
"stability" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,271 in our English list, against #22,235 for "suitability". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "stability" and "suitability" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stability" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "suitability" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #386,204 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stability" and "suitability" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stabilise vs stability". 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 #386,204 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