Which to use
“stapled” and “startled” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,927
- “stapled” frequency rank
- #19,473
- “startled” frequency rank
- 67400
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stapled | startled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fastened with staples. | Surprised and slightly frightened. |
Letter map: stapled vs startled
Shared letters muted; letters that set stapled and startled apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Corpus notes: stapled and startled
stapled and startled are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67400, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stapled is recorded at frequency rank #47,927, classified as anadj. startled is at rank #19,473, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈstɑɹt.l̩d/.
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 67400, this pair ranks #63,510 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of stapled vs startled
Shared letters: adelst. Private to "stapled": p. Private to "startled": r.
"stapled" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "startled" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "stapled" and "startled" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "stapled" or "startled" show up more?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "stapled" and "startled".
- Full dictionary entry for "stapled" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "startled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #63,510 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stapled" and "startled" 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 #63,510 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.