strongervsstrongestConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,765
“stronger” frequency rank
#5,921
“strongest” frequency rank
8686
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stronger strongest
Definition comparative form of strong: more strong superlative form of strong: most strong

Where the eye mixes stronger and strongest

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
stronger
9 ch
strongest

Why the eye confuses stronger with strongest

A purely visual mix-up. stronger (/stɹɒŋɡə/) and strongest (/ˈstɹɒŋɡəst/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8686, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stronger is recorded at frequency rank #2,765, classified as anadj, pronounced /stɹɒŋɡə/. strongest is at rank #5,921, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈstɹɒŋɡəst/.

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 8686, this pair ranks #501,215 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stronger vs strongest

Shared letters: egnorst. Private to "stronger": -. Private to "strongest": -.

"stronger" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC  ·  "strongest" · 9 letters · shape CCCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • strongersrtonger · sstronger · stornger · strnoger · strogner · stronegr · strongerr · strongger
  • strongestsrtongest · sstrongest · storngest · strnogest · strognest · stronegst · strongesst · strongestt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "stronger" and "strongest" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/stɹɒŋɡə/ versus /ˈstɹɒŋɡəst/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "stronger" or "strongest"?
"stronger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,765 in our English list, against #5,921 for "strongest". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stronger" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "strongest" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #501,215 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stronger" and "strongest" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stringed vs stronger". 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 #501,215 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