Which to use
“stumped” is an adjective and “stumps” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,990
- “stumped” frequency rank
- #24,923
- “stumps” frequency rank
- 55913
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stumped | stumps |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Perplexed, confused. | close of play (when the stumps are pulled out of the ground by the umpires) |
Letter map: stumped vs stumps
Shared letters muted; letters that set stumped and stumps apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. stumped runs 7 letters (CCVCCVC) against stumps's 6 (CCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: stumped vs stumps
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: stumped is anadjective and stumpsanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55913, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stumped is recorded at frequency rank #30,990, classified as anadj. stumps is at rank #24,923, tagged as anoun.
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 55913, this pair ranks #130,001 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of stumped vs stumps
Shared letters: mpstu. Private to "stumped": de. Private to "stumps": -.
"stumped" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "stumps" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "stumped" and "stumps" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "stumped" vs "stumps" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "stumped" and "stumps". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "stumped" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stumps" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #130,001 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stumped" and "stumps" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stooped vs stumped". 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 #130,001 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.