Which to use
“ship” and “step” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,271
- “ship” frequency rank
- #16,178
- “step” frequency rank
- 35449
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ship | step |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | navio | passo |
Letter map: ship vs step
Shared letters muted; letters that set ship and step apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Pair insight - ship / step
ship and step are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35449, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ship is recorded at frequency rank #19,271, classified as anoun, pronounced shĭp. step is at rank #16,178, tagged as anoun.
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 35449, this pair ranks #31,599 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ship vs step
Shared letters: ps. Private to "ship": hi. Private to "step": et.
"ship" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "step" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ship" for "step" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ship" or "step"?
What to do next
You've compared "ship" and "step". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "ship" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "step" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #31,599 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ship" and "step" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ship vs soap". 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 #31,599 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.