statuevsstatusTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,186
“statue” frequency rank
#1,439
“status” frequency rank
7625
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature statue status
Definition A three-dimensional work of art, usually representing a person or animal, usually created by sculpting, carving, molding, or casting. A person’s condition, position or standing relative to that of others.

Where the eye mixes statue and status

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
statue
6 ch
status

Visual trap between statue and status

A purely visual mix-up. statue (/ˈstæt͡ʃ.uː/) and status (/ˈsteɪ.təs/) 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 a single letter - e in “statue” becomes s in “status”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7625, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

statue is recorded at frequency rank #6,186, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈstæt͡ʃ.uː/. 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 7625, this pair ranks #506,310 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of statue vs status

Shared letters: astu. Private to "statue": e. Private to "status": -.

"statue" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV  ·  "status" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • statuesattue · sstatue · stateu · stattue · staute · sttatue · sttaue · tsatue
  • statussattus · sstatus · statsu · stattus · statuss · stauts · sttatus · sttaus

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "statue" for "status" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈstæt͡ʃ.uː/ versus /ˈsteɪ.təs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "statue" vs "status" - which ranks higher?
"status" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,439 in our English list, against #6,186 for "statue". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "statue" 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 #506,310 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "statue" and "status" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sate vs statue". 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 #506,310 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