Which to use
“stay” and “step” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,786
- “stay” frequency rank
- #28,166
- “step” frequency rank
- 55952
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stay | step |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Parada. | Paso. |
Where the eye mixes stay and step
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses stay with step
A purely visual mix-up. stay (/steɪ/) and step (/stɛp/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55952, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stay is recorded at frequency rank #27,786, classified as anoun, pronounced /steɪ/. step is at rank #28,166, tagged as anoun, pronounced /stɛp/.
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 55952, this pair ranks #76,655 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of stay vs step
Shared letters: st. Private to "stay": ay. Private to "step": ep.
"stay" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "step" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "stay" and "step" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "stay" vs "step" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "stay" and "step" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "stay" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "step" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #76,655 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stay" and "step" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stem vs step". 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 #76,655 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.