saysvsstarsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: says is a verb, stars is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“says” is a verb and “stars” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,209
“says” frequency rank
#22,194
“stars” frequency rank
68403
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature says stars
Definition Presente para la tercera personal del singular del verbo say (decir). Forma del plural de star.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set says and stars apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
says
5 ch
stars

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: says is /sɛz/ while stars is /stɑːz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68403, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

says is recorded at frequency rank #46,209, classified as averb, pronounced /sɛz/. stars is at rank #22,194, tagged as anoun, pronounced /stɑːz/.

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 68403, this pair ranks #34,592 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of says vs stars

Shared letters: as. Private to "says": y. Private to "stars": rt.

"says" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "stars" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • saysasys · sasy · sayss · sayys · ssays · syas
  • starssatrs · sstars · starrs · starss · stasr · stras · sttars · tsars

Frequency comparison

says#46,209
stars#22,194

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "says" and "stars" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "says" is a verb and "stars" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "says" or "stars"?
"stars" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,194 in our Spanish list, against #46,209 for "says". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering says vs stars

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “says”; for a noun, it's “stars”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “says” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list