Which to use
“STS” and “stups” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,514
- “STS” frequency rank
- #41,021
- “stups” frequency rank
- 81535
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | STS | stups |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Navette spatiale américaine ayant effectué 135 vols pour l'agence spatiale américaine (NASA) entre le 12 avril 1981 et juillet 2011. | Pluriel de stup. |
Where the eye mixes STS and stups
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses STS with stups
A purely visual mix-up. STS (\ɛs te ɛs\) and stups (\styp\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81535, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
STS is recorded at frequency rank #40,514, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛs te ɛs\. stups is at rank #41,021, tagged as anoun, pronounced \styp\.
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 81535, this pair ranks #18,551 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of STS vs stups
Shared letters: st. Private to "STS": -. Private to "stups": pu.
"STS" · 3 letters · shape CCC · "stups" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- stups ← sstups · stpus · sttups · stupps · stupss · stusp · sutps · tsups
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "STS" for "stups" ever safe?
Frequency check: "STS" vs "stups" - which ranks higher?
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 "STS" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stups" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #18,551 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "STS" and "stups" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "STS 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 #18,551 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.