Which to use
“stabilité” and “stérilité” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,717
- “stabilité” frequency rank
- #34,764
- “stérilité” frequency rank
- 39481
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stabilité | stérilité |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Caractère de ce qui est stable. | Caractère de ce qui est stérile. |
Where the eye mixes stabilité and stérilité
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. stabilité and stérilité follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses stabilité with stérilité
A purely visual mix-up. stabilité (\sta.bi.li.te\) and stérilité (\ste.ʁi.li.te\) 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 39481, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stabilité is recorded at frequency rank #4,717, classified as anoun, pronounced \sta.bi.li.te\. stérilité is at rank #34,764, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ste.ʁi.li.te\.
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 39481, this pair ranks #247,629 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of stabilité vs stérilité
Shared letters: ilsté. Private to "stabilité": ab. Private to "stérilité": r.
"stabilité" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV · "stérilité" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "stabilité" and "stérilité" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "stabilité" or "stérilité" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "stabilité" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stérilité" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #247,629 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stabilité" and "stérilité" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stérilet vs stérilité". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #247,629 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.