Which to use
“staple” and “statue” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,611
- “staple” frequency rank
- #6,186
- “statue” frequency rank
- 17797
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | staple | statue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A town containing merchants who have exclusive right, under royal authority, to purchase or produce certain goods for export; also, the body of such merchants seen as a group. | A three-dimensional work of art, usually representing a person or animal, usually created by sculpting, carving, molding, or casting. |
Where the eye mixes staple and statue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses staple with statue
A purely visual mix-up. staple (/ˈsteɪ.pəl/) and statue (/ˈstæt͡ʃ.uː/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17797, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
staple is recorded at frequency rank #11,611, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsteɪ.pəl/. statue is at rank #6,186, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈstæt͡ʃ.uː/.
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 17797, this pair ranks #449,058 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of staple vs statue
Shared letters: aest. Private to "staple": lp. Private to "statue": u.
"staple" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "statue" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "staple" for "statue" ever safe?
Which is more common, "staple" or "statue"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "staple" and "statue" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "staple" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "statue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #449,058 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "staple" and "statue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "staph vs staple". 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 #449,058 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.