Which to use
“stabiliser” and “stériliser” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,513
- “stabiliser” frequency rank
- #43,164
- “stériliser” frequency rank
- 58677
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stabiliser | stériliser |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Rendre stable. | Frapper de stérilité, rendre stérile. |
Where the eye mixes stabiliser and stériliser
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between stabiliser and stériliser
A purely visual mix-up. stabiliser (\sta.bi.li.ze\) and stériliser (\ste.ʁi.li.ze\) 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 58677, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stabiliser is recorded at frequency rank #15,513, classified as averb, pronounced \sta.bi.li.ze\. stériliser is at rank #43,164, tagged as averb, pronounced \ste.ʁi.li.ze\.
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 58677, this pair ranks #107,593 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of stabiliser vs stériliser
Shared letters: eilrst. Private to "stabiliser": ab. Private to "stériliser": é.
"stabiliser" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCVCVC · "stériliser" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- stabiliser ← satbiliser · sstabiliser · stabbiliser · stabiilser · stabiliesr · stabiliserr · stabilisre · stabilisser
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "stabiliser" and "stériliser" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "stabiliser" vs "stériliser" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "stabiliser" and "stériliser" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "stabiliser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stériliser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #107,593 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stabiliser" and "stériliser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stériliser vs stérilité". 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 #107,593 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.