Which to use
“States” is a name and “stokes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,245
- “States” frequency rank
- #37,076
- “stokes” frequency rank
- 47321
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | States | stokes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | États-Unis d’Amérique. | Unité de mesure de la viscosité cinématique. |
Where the eye mixes States and stokes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. States and stokes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: States vs stokes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: States is \stɛts\ while stokes is \stoks\. 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 (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47321, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
States is recorded at frequency rank #10,245, classified as aname, pronounced \stɛts\. stokes is at rank #37,076, tagged as anoun, pronounced \stoks\.
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 47321, this pair ranks #187,877 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of States vs stokes
Shared letters: est. Private to "States": a. Private to "stokes": ko.
"States" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "stokes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "States" and "stokes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "States" or "stokes"?
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 "States" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stokes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #187,877 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "States" and "stokes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stokes vs stoner". 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 #187,877 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.