staresvsstarletWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,214
“stares” frequency rank
#43,388
“starlet” frequency rank
62602
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stares starlet
Definition plural of stare A young actress with a promising career ahead of her.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set stares and starlet apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
stares
7 ch
starlet

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. stares (/ˈstɛəz/) and starlet (/ˈstɑɹlɪt/) 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 62602, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stares is recorded at frequency rank #19,214, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈstɛəz/. starlet is at rank #43,388, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈstɑɹlɪt/.

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 62602, this pair ranks #87,568 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of stares vs starlet

Shared letters: aerst. Private to "stares": -. Private to "starlet": l.

"stares" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "starlet" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • staressatres · sstares · staers · staress · starres · starse · straes · sttares
  • starletsatrlet · sstarlet · stalret · starelt · starlett · starllet · starrlet · stralet

Frequency comparison

stares#19,214
starlet#43,388

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "stares" and "starlet" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈstɛəz/ versus /ˈstɑɹlɪt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "stares" or "starlet"?
"stares" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,214 in our English list, against #43,388 for "starlet". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering stares vs starlet

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “stares” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list