Which to use
“statuary” is a noun and “statutory” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,072
- “statuary” frequency rank
- #10,282
- “statutory” frequency rank
- 59354
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | statuary | statutory |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The craft of making statues. | Of, relating to, enacted or regulated by a statute. |
Where the eye mixes statuary and statutory
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses statuary with statutory
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: statuary is /ˈstæ.t͡ʃʊə.ɹi/ while statutory is /ˈstætjʊt(ə)ɹɪ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59354, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
statuary is recorded at frequency rank #49,072, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈstæ.t͡ʃʊə.ɹi/. statutory is at rank #10,282, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈstætjʊt(ə)ɹɪ/.
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 59354, this pair ranks #106,717 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of statuary vs statutory
Shared letters: arstuy. Private to "statuary": -. Private to "statutory": o.
"statuary" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVVCV · "statutory" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "statuary" for "statutory" ever safe?
Frequency check: "statuary" vs "statutory" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "statuary" and "statutory" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "statuary" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "statutory" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #106,717 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "statuary" and "statutory" 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 #106,717 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.