Which to use
“stable” is an adjective and “stèle” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,189
- “stable” frequency rank
- #25,139
- “stèle” frequency rank
- 29328
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stable | stèle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui reste en place, dans une situation ferme. Qui ne varie pas. | Monument monolithe ayant la forme d’un fût de colonne, d’un obélisque, d’une dalle dressée et sculptée ou peinte, qui sert le plus souvent à marquer l’emplacement d’une sépulture. |
Where the eye mixes stable and stèle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between stable and stèle
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stable is \stabl\ while stèle is \stɛl\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29328, 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\. stèle is at rank #25,139, tagged as anoun, pronounced \stɛl\.
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 29328, this pair ranks #317,356 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of stable vs stèle
Shared letters: elst. Private to "stable": ab. Private to "stèle": è.
"stable" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "stèle" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- stable ← satble · sstable · stabble · stabel · stablle · stalbe · stbale · sttable
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "stable" and "stèle" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "stable" vs "stèle" - which ranks higher?
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 "stable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stèle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #317,356 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stable" and "stèle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stase vs stèle". 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 #317,356 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.