StarvsstateTell them apart

Quick tell: Star is a name, state is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Star” is a name and “state” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,640
“Star” frequency rank
#10,789
“state” frequency rank
12429
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Star state
Definition Nom de famille. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de stater.

Letter map: Star vs state

Shared letters muted; letters that set Star and state apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. Star runs 4 letters (CCVC) against state's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Star
5 ch
state

Role in the sentence - Star and state

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Star is aname and stateaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12429, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Star is recorded at frequency rank #1,640, classified as aname. 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 12429, this pair ranks #405,309 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Star vs state

Shared letters: ast. Private to "Star": r. Private to "state": e.

"Star" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "state" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Starsatr · sstar · stra · sttar
  • statesatte · sstate · staet · statte · sttae · sttate · tsate

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Star" and "state" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Star" is a name and "state" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Star" or "state"?
"Star" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,640 in our French list, against #10,789 for "state". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "Star" and "state". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Star" 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 #405,309 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Star" 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 #405,309 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