Which to use
“stay” is a verb and “sth” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #473
- “stay” frequency rank
- #40,035
- “sth” frequency rank
- 40508
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stay | sth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To remain in a particular place, especially for a definite or short period of time; sojourn; abide. | Abbreviation of something. |
Letter map: stay vs sth
Shared letters muted; letters that set stay and sth apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Role in the sentence - stay and sth
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: stay is averb and sthapronoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40508, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stay is recorded at frequency rank #473, classified as averb, pronounced /steɪ/. sth is at rank #40,035, tagged as apron.
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 40508, this pair ranks #266,922 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of stay vs sth
Shared letters: st. Private to "stay": ay. Private to "sth": h.
"stay" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "sth" · 3 letters · shape CCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- stay ← saty · sstay · stayy · sttay · stya · tsay
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "stay" and "sth" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "stay" or "sth" show up more?
What to do next
You've compared "stay" and "sth". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "stay" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #266,922 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stay" and "sth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sif vs sth". 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 #266,922 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.