Which to use
“stapled” is an adjective and “starred” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,927
- “stapled” frequency rank
- #11,125
- “starred” frequency rank
- 59052
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stapled | starred |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fastened with staples. | simple past and past participle of star |
Letter map: stapled vs starred
Shared letters muted; letters that set stapled and starred apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Grammar separator: stapled vs starred
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: stapled is anadjective and starredaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59052, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stapled is recorded at frequency rank #47,927, classified as anadj. starred is at rank #11,125, 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 59052, this pair ranks #108,611 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of stapled vs starred
Shared letters: adest. Private to "stapled": lp. Private to "starred": r.
"stapled" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "starred" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "stapled" and "starred" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "stapled" or "starred"?
What to do next
You've compared "stapled" and "starred". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "stapled" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "starred" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #108,611 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stapled" and "starred" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stapled vs starlet". 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 #108,611 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.