Which to use
“starred” and “stirred” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,125
- “starred” frequency rank
- #15,707
- “stirred” frequency rank
- 26832
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | starred | stirred |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of star | simple past and past participle of stir |
Letter map: starred vs stirred
Shared letters muted; letters that set starred and stirred apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. starred and stirred follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Spelling & dictionary notes on starred vs stirred
starred and stirred 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 a single letter - a in “starred” becomes i in “stirred”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26832, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
starred is recorded at frequency rank #11,125, classified as averb. stirred is at rank #15,707, tagged as averb, pronounced /stɜːd/.
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 26832, this pair ranks #383,691 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of starred vs stirred
Shared letters: derst. Private to "starred": a. Private to "stirred": i.
"starred" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "stirred" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "starred" for "stirred" ever safe?
Frequency check: "starred" vs "stirred" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "starred" and "stirred".
- Full dictionary entry for "starred" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stirred" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #383,691 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "starred" and "stirred" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stilted vs stirred". 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 #383,691 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.