Which to use
“shame” is a noun and “stage” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,228
- “shame” frequency rank
- #18,718
- “stage” frequency rank
- 54946
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shame | stage |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | vergonha; desonra | encenar; produzir para o palco |
Where the eye mixes shame and stage
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. shame and stage follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: shame vs stage
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: shame is /ʃeɪm/ while stage is /stedʒ, steɪdʒ/. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54946, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shame is recorded at frequency rank #36,228, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʃeɪm/. stage is at rank #18,718, tagged as averb, pronounced /stedʒ, steɪdʒ/.
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 54946, this pair ranks #10,910 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shame vs stage
Shared letters: aes. Private to "shame": hm. Private to "stage": gt.
"shame" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "stage" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "shame" and "stage" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "shame" or "stage" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "shame" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stage" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #10,910 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shame" and "stage" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shame vs shire". 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 #10,910 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.