Which to use
“stagger” is a noun and “staggered” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,347
- “stagger” frequency rank
- #22,226
- “staggered” frequency rank
- 58573
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stagger | staggered |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion. | simple past and past participle of stagger |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set stagger and staggered apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
stagger and staggered form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “stagger” sits inside “staggered” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58573, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stagger is recorded at frequency rank #36,347, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈstæɡə/. staggered is at rank #22,226, tagged as averb.
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 58573, this pair ranks #111,679 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "stagger" and "staggered" be used interchangeably?
Remembering stagger vs staggered
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “stagger”; for a verb, it's “staggered”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “stagger” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable