statevsstatureTell them apart

Which to use

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

#163
“state” frequency rank
#16,138
“stature” frequency rank
16301
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature state stature
Definition A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time. A person or animal's natural height when standing upright.

Where the eye mixes state and stature

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. state runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against stature's 7 (CCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
state
7 ch
stature

Why the eye confuses state with stature

A purely visual mix-up. state (/steɪt/) and stature (/ˈstæt͡ʃ.ə/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16301, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

state is recorded at frequency rank #163, classified as anoun, pronounced /steɪt/. stature is at rank #16,138, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈstæt͡ʃ.ə/.

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 16301, this pair ranks #458,635 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of state vs stature

Shared letters: aest. Private to "state": -. Private to "stature": ru.

"state" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "stature" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • state ← satte · sstate · staet · statte · sttae · sttate · tsate
  • stature ← satture · sstature · statrue · statture · statuer · staturre · stautre · sttature

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "state" and "stature" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/steɪt/ versus /ˈstæt͡ʃ.ə/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "state" or "stature"?
"state" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #163 in our English list, against #16,138 for "stature". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "state" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stature" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #458,635 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "state" and "stature" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "statuary vs stature". 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 #458,635 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list