skatevsstatesTell them apart

Which to use

“skate” and “states” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#26,620
“skate” frequency rank
#24,316
“states” frequency rank
50936
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature skate states
Definition Patineta. Forma del plural de state.

Where the eye mixes skate and states

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. skate runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against states's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
skate
6 ch
states

Look-alike desk: skate vs states

A purely visual mix-up. skate ([esˈkejt̪]) and states (/steɪts/) 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 50936, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

skate is recorded at frequency rank #26,620, classified as anoun, pronounced [esˈkejt̪]. states is at rank #24,316, tagged as anoun, pronounced /steɪts/.

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 50936, this pair ranks #100,565 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of skate vs states

Shared letters: aest. Private to "skate": k. Private to "states": -.

"skate" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "states" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • skate ← ksate · sakte · skaet · skatte · skkate · sktae · sskate
  • states ← sattes · sstates · staets · statess · statse · stattes · sttaes · sttates

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "skate" and "states" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([esˈkejt̪] versus /steɪts/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "skate" or "states"?
"states" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,316 in our Spanish list, against #26,620 for "skate". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "skate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "states" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #100,565 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "skate" and "states" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sácate vs skate". 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 #100,565 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list