stayvsstoryWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#27,786
“stay” frequency rank
#9,544
“story” frequency rank
37330
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stay story
Definition Parada. Historia, cuento.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
stay
5 ch
story

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. stay (/steɪ/) and story (/ˈstɔː.ɹi/) 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 37330, 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/. story is at rank #9,544, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈstɔː.ɹi/.

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 37330, this pair ranks #175,876 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of stay vs story

Shared letters: sty. Private to "stay": a. Private to "story": or.

"stay" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "story" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • staysaty · sstay · stayy · sttay · stya · tsay
  • storysotry · sstory · storry · storyy · stoyr · stroy · sttory · tsory

Frequency comparison

stay#27,786
story#9,544

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "stay" and "story" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/steɪ/ versus /ˈstɔː.ɹi/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "stay" or "story"?
"story" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,544 in our Spanish list, against #27,786 for "stay". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering stay vs story

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “stay” 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