staticvsstatusTell them apart

Quick tell: static is a adjective, status is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“static” is an adjective and “status” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,629
“static” frequency rank
#1,439
“status” frequency rank
8068
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature static status
Definition Unchanging; that cannot or does not change. A person’s condition, position or standing relative to that of others.

Where the eye mixes static and status

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
static
6 ch
status

Look-alike desk: static vs status

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: static is /ˈstæt.ɪk/ while status is /ˈsteɪ.təs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8068, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

static is recorded at frequency rank #6,629, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈstæt.ɪk/. status is at rank #1,439, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsteɪ.təs/.

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 8068, this pair ranks #504,259 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of static vs status

Shared letters: ast. Private to "static": ci. Private to "status": u.

"static" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "status" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • staticsattic · sstatic · staitc · statci · staticc · stattic · sttaic · sttatic
  • statussattus · sstatus · statsu · stattus · statuss · stauts · sttatus · sttaus

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "static" and "status" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "static" is an adjective and "status" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "static" or "status"?
"status" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,439 in our English list, against #6,629 for "static". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "static" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "status" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #504,259 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "static" and "status" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "staid vs static". 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 #504,259 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