spasvsstatWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“spas” and “stat” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#42,628
“spas” frequency rank
#22,422
“stat” frequency rank
65050
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spas stat
Definition Pluriel de spa. Statistique.

Where the eye mixes spas and stat

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
spas
4 ch
stat

Why the eye confuses spas with stat

A purely visual mix-up. spas (\spa\) and stat (\stat\) 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 65050, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spas is recorded at frequency rank #42,628, classified as anoun, pronounced \spa\. stat is at rank #22,422, tagged as anoun, pronounced \stat\.

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 65050, this pair ranks #74,114 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of spas vs stat

Shared letters: as. Private to "spas": p. Private to "stat": t.

"spas" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "stat" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spassaps · spass · sppas · spsa · sspas
  • statsatt · sstat · statt · stta · sttat · tsat

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "spas" and "stat" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\spa\ versus \stat\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "spas" vs "stat" - which ranks higher?
"stat" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,422 in our French list, against #42,628 for "spas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "spas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stat" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,114 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spas" and "stat" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spas vs stase". 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 #74,114 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list