Which to use
“stiff” is an adjective and “stig” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,357
- “stiff” frequency rank
- #40,036
- “stig” frequency rank
- 48393
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stiff | stig |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Rigid; hard to bend; inflexible. | Someone from a poor background, with poor dress sense. |
Where the eye mixes stiff and stig
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. stiff runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against stig's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between stiff and stig
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stiff is /stɪf/ while stig is /stɪɡ/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48393, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stiff is recorded at frequency rank #8,357, classified as anadj, pronounced /stɪf/. stig is at rank #40,036, tagged as anoun, pronounced /stɪɡ/.
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 48393, this pair ranks #193,491 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of stiff vs stig
Shared letters: ist. Private to "stiff": f. Private to "stig": g.
"stiff" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "stig" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "stiff" and "stig" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "stiff" or "stig"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "stiff" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #193,491 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stiff" and "stig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sif vs stig". 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 #193,491 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.