Which to use
“stilted” is an adjective and “stunted” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,652
- “stilted” frequency rank
- #30,247
- “stunted” frequency rank
- 79899
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stilted | stunted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Making use of or possessing a stilt or stilts, or things resembling stilts; raised on stilts. | simple past and past participle of stunt |
Letter map: stilted vs stunted
Shared letters muted; letters that set stilted and stunted apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. stilted and stunted follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Grammar separator: stilted vs stunted
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: stilted is anadjective and stuntedaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79899, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stilted is recorded at frequency rank #49,652, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈstɪltɪd/. stunted is at rank #30,247, tagged as averb.
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 79899, this pair ranks #21,026 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of stilted vs stunted
Shared letters: dest. Private to "stilted": il. Private to "stunted": nu.
"stilted" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "stunted" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "stilted" and "stunted" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "stilted" or "stunted"?
Useful next steps
Pair "stilted" vs "stunted" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "stilted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stunted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #21,026 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stilted" and "stunted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "skirted vs stilted". 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 #21,026 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.