Which to use
“stuff” and “stuffs” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #757
- “stuff” frequency rank
- #24,328
- “stuffs” frequency rank
- 25085
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stuff | stuffs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Miscellaneous items or objects; (with possessive) personal effects. | plural of stuff |
Where the eye mixes stuff and stuffs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses stuff with stuffs
A purely visual mix-up. stuff (/stʌf/) and stuffs (/stʌfs/) 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 extra letter(s) - “stuff” sits inside “stuffs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25085, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stuff is recorded at frequency rank #757, classified as anoun, pronounced /stʌf/. stuffs is at rank #24,328, tagged as anoun, pronounced /stʌfs/.
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 25085, this pair ranks #397,040 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of stuff vs stuffs
Shared letters: fstu. Private to "stuff": -. Private to "stuffs": -.
"stuff" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "stuffs" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "stuff" and "stuffs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "stuff" vs "stuffs" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "stuff" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stuffs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #397,040 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stuff" and "stuffs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "smurfs vs stuffs". 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 #397,040 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.