Which to use
“ste” is a verb and “stop” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,412
- “ste” frequency rank
- #3,422
- “stop” frequency rank
- 13834
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ste | stop |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de stare. | Signalisation routière indiquant aux automobilistes qu’ils doivent marquer un arrêt et vérifier que la voie est libre avant de passer. Elle est composée dans de nombreux pays d’un panneau octogonal rouge avec l’inscription éponyme « STOP », et d’une bande blanche peinte au sol matérialisant la zone où doit s’arrêter l’avant du véhicule. |
Where the eye mixes ste and stop
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ste with stop
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ste is \ˈstɛ\ while stop is \stɔp\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13834, 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\. stop is at rank #3,422, tagged as anoun, pronounced \stɔp\.
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 13834, this pair ranks #399,366 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ste vs stop
Shared letters: st. Private to "ste": e. Private to "stop": op.
"ste" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "stop" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- stop ← sotp · sstop · stopp · stpo · sttop · tsop
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ste" and "stop" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "ste" or "stop" show up more?
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 "ste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stop" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #399,366 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ste" and "stop" 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 #399,366 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.