Which to use
“state” is a verb and “stone” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,789
- “state” frequency rank
- #8,932
- “stone” frequency rank
- 19721
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | state | stone |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de stater. | Hébété, manquant de vitalité, en particulier à la suite d’une consommation de psychotropes. |
Where the eye mixes state and stone
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses state with stone
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: state is \stat\ while stone is \ston\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19721, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
state is recorded at frequency rank #10,789, classified as averb, pronounced \stat\. stone is at rank #8,932, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ston\.
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 19721, this pair ranks #371,879 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of state vs stone
Shared letters: est. Private to "state": a. Private to "stone": no.
"state" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "stone" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "state" for "stone" ever safe?
Which is more common, "state" or "stone"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "state" and "stone" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "state" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stone" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #371,879 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "state" and "stone" 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 #371,879 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.