Which to use
“stares” is a noun and “starved” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,214
- “stares” frequency rank
- #15,706
- “starved” frequency rank
- 34920
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stares | starved |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of stare | Approaching starvation, emaciated and malnourished. |
Letter map: stares vs starved
Shared letters muted; letters that set stares and starved apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. stares runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against starved's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: stares vs starved
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: stares is anoun and starvedanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34920, 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/. starved is at rank #15,706, tagged as anadj.
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 34920, this pair ranks #316,494 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of stares vs starved
Shared letters: aerst. Private to "stares": -. Private to "starved": dv.
"stares" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "starved" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "stares" for "starved" ever safe?
Frequency check: "stares" vs "starved" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pair "stares" vs "starved" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "stares" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "starved" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #316,494 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stares" and "starved" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stares vs staves". 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 #316,494 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.