Which to use
“ste” is a verb and “stone” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,412
- “ste” frequency rank
- #8,932
- “stone” frequency rank
- 19344
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ste | stone |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de stare. | Hébété, manquant de vitalité, en particulier à la suite d’une consommation de psychotropes. |
Where the eye mixes ste and stone
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ste vs stone
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ste is \ˈstɛ\ while stone is \ston\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19344, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ste is recorded at frequency rank #10,412, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈstɛ\. 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 19344, this pair ranks #373,733 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ste vs stone
Shared letters: est. Private to "ste": -. Private to "stone": no.
"ste" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "stone" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- stone ← sotne · sstone · stnoe · stoen · stonne · sttone · tsone
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ste" and "stone" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ste" or "stone"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ste" 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 #373,733 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ste" and "stone" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ste vs suu". 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 #373,733 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.