Which to use
“stable” is an adjective and “state” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,189
- “stable” frequency rank
- #10,789
- “state” frequency rank
- 14978
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stable | state |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui reste en place, dans une situation ferme. Qui ne varie pas. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de stater. |
Where the eye mixes stable and state
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: stable vs state
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stable is \stabl\ while state is \stat\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14978, 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\. state is at rank #10,789, tagged as averb, 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 14978, this pair ranks #394,387 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of stable vs state
Shared letters: aest. Private to "stable": bl. Private to "state": -.
"stable" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "state" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "stable" and "state" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "stable" or "state" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "stable" and "state" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "stable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "state" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #394,387 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stable" and "state" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stase vs state". 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 #394,387 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.