stevsstpTell them apart

Quick tell: ste is a verb, stp is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ste” is a verb and “stp” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,412
“ste” frequency rank
#9,920
“stp” frequency rank
20332
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ste stp
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de stare. S’il te plaît.

Where the eye mixes ste and stp

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
ste
3 ch
stp

Look-alike desk: ste vs stp

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ste is \ˈstɛ\ while stp is \ɛs.te.pe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “ste” becomes p in “stp”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20332, 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\. stp is at rank #9,920, tagged as anintj, pronounced \ɛs.te.pe\.

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 20332, this pair ranks #368,812 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ste vs stp

Shared letters: st. Private to "ste": e. Private to "stp": p.

"ste" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "stp" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ste" and "stp" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ste" is a verb and "stp" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ste" vs "stp" - which ranks higher?
"stp" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,920 in our French list, against #10,412 for "ste". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "ste" and "stp" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stp" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #368,812 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ste" and "stp" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ste vs suu". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #368,812 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