Which to use
“stage” and “stay” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,857
- “stage” frequency rank
- #27,786
- “stay” frequency rank
- 61643
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stage | stay |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fase, etapa. | Parada. |
Where the eye mixes stage and stay
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. stage runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against stay's 4 (CCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between stage and stay
A purely visual mix-up. stage (/steɪd͡ʒ/) and stay (/steɪ/) 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 61643, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stage is recorded at frequency rank #33,857, classified as anoun, pronounced /steɪd͡ʒ/. stay is at rank #27,786, tagged as anoun, pronounced /steɪ/.
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 61643, this pair ranks #54,741 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of stage vs stay
Shared letters: ast. Private to "stage": eg. Private to "stay": y.
"stage" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "stay" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "stage" and "stay" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "stage" vs "stay" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "stage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stay" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #54,741 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stage" and "stay" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shame vs stage". 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 #54,741 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.