stringvsstringedWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: string is a noun, stringed is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“string” is a noun and “stringed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,658
“string” frequency rank
#47,353
“stringed” frequency rank
51011
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature string stringed
Definition A long, thin and flexible structure made from threads twisted together. Having strings

Letter map: string vs stringed

Shared letters muted; letters that set string and stringed apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.

6 ch
string
8 ch
stringed

Role in the sentence - string and stringed

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: string is anoun and stringedanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “string” sits inside “stringed”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51011, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

string is recorded at frequency rank #3,658, classified as anoun, pronounced /stɹɪŋ/. stringed is at rank #47,353, tagged as anadj.

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 51011, this pair ranks #169,157 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of string vs stringed

Shared letters: ginrst. Private to "string": -. Private to "stringed": de.

"string" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC  ·  "stringed" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stringsrting · sstring · stirng · strign · stringg · strinng · strnig · strring
  • stringedsrtinged · sstringed · stirnged · strigned · strinegd · stringde · stringedd · stringged

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "string" for "stringed" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "string" is a noun and "stringed" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "string" or "stringed" show up more?
"string" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,658 in our English list, against #47,353 for "stringed". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "string" and "stringed".

  • Full dictionary entry for "string" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stringed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #169,157 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "string" and "stringed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stringed vs syringes". 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 #169,157 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