stadevsstagesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#41,387
“stade” frequency rank
#3,455
“stages” frequency rank
44842
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stade stages
Definition Synonym of stadion (“former Greek unit of distance”). plural of stage

Where the eye mixes stade and stages

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. stade runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against stages's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
stade
6 ch
stages

Look-alike desk: stade vs stages

A purely visual mix-up. stade (/steɪd/) and stages (/ˈsteɪd͡ʒɪz/) 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 44842, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stade is recorded at frequency rank #41,387, classified as anoun, pronounced /steɪd/. stages is at rank #3,455, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsteɪd͡ʒɪz/.

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 44842, this pair ranks #226,820 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of stade vs stages

Shared letters: aest. Private to "stade": d. Private to "stages": g.

"stade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "stages" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stade ← satde · sstade · stadde · stdae · sttade · tsade
  • stages ← satges · sstages · staegs · stagess · stagges · stagse · stgaes · sttages

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "stade" and "stages" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/steɪd/ versus /ˈsteɪd͡ʒɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "stade" vs "stages" - which ranks higher?
"stages" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,455 in our English list, against #41,387 for "stade". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "stade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stages" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #226,820 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stade" and "stages" 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 #226,820 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