stablevsstablesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,189
“stable” frequency rank
#12,066
“stables” frequency rank
16255
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stable stables
Definition Qui reste en place, dans une situation ferme. Qui ne varie pas. Pluriel de stable.

Same sound, different letters: stable vs stables

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.

6 ch
stable
7 ch
stables

Same sound, different spelling - stable / stables

This is the hard kind. stable and stables are pronounced identically (\stabl\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “stable” sits inside “stables”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16255, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stable is recorded at frequency rank #4,189, classified as anadj, pronounced \stabl\. stables is at rank #12,066, tagged as anadj, pronounced \stabl\.

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 16255, this pair ranks #388,678 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stable vs stables

Shared letters: abelst. Private to "stable": -. Private to "stables": -.

"stable" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "stables" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stablesatble · sstable · stabble · stabel · stablle · stalbe · stbale · sttable
  • stablessatbles · sstables · stabbles · stabels · stabless · stablles · stablse · stalbes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "stable" and "stables" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\stabl\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "stable" vs "stables" - which ranks higher?
"stable" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,189 in our French list, against #12,066 for "stables". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've separated the homophone pair "stable" / "stables". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stables" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #388,678 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stable" and "stables" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stables vs stalles". 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 #388,678 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