Finding stable sets of pairings: an example
The following is an example with four men and four women.
| Men's preferences | Anne | Elena | Heather | Laura |
| Andy | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Colin | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Jamie | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Ross | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Women's preferences | Andy | Colin | Jamie | Ross |
| Anne | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Elena | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Heather | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Laura | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
In the stages below "Woman: (x)Man(y)" indicates that the woman's rating of the man is x and the man's rating of the woman is y. So Anne: (3)Andy(1) means that Anne has rated Andy as 3rd on her list and Andy has rated Anne as 1st on his list.
| Stage 1 offers | Stage 2 offers |
| Anne: (3)Andy(1), (4)Colin(1) Elena: (4)Jamie(1) Heather: (4)Ross(1) Laura: |
Anne: (3)Andy(1) Elena: (4)Jamie(1), (3)Colin(2) Heather: (4)Ross(1) Laura: |
| Anne turns Colin down. He goes to his next choice, Elena. | Elena turns Jamie down. He goes to his next choice, Heather. |
| Stage 3 offers | Stage 4 offers |
| Anne: (3)Andy(1) Elena: (3)Colin(2) Heather: (4)Ross(1), (3)Jamie(2) Laura: |
Anne: (3)Andy(1), (2)Ross(2) Elena: (3)Colin(2) Heather: (3)Jamie(2) Laura: |
| Heather turns Ross down. He goes to his next choice, Anne. | Anne turns Andy down. He goes to his next choice, Elena. |
| Stage 5 offers | Stage 6 offers |
| Anne: (2)Ross(2) Elena: (3)Colin(2), (2)Andy(2) Heather: (3)Jamie(2) Laura: |
Anne: (2)Ross(2) Elena: (2)Andy(2) Heather: (3)Jamie(2), (2)Colin(3) Laura: |
| Elena turns Colin down. He goes to his next choice, Heather. | Heather turns Jamie down. He goes to his next choice, Anne. |
| Stage 7 offers | Stage 8 offers |
| Anne: (2)Ross(2), (1)Jamie(3) Elena: (2)Andy(2) Heather: (2)Colin(3) Laura: |
Anne: (1)Jamie(3) Elena: (2)Andy(2), (1)Ross(3) Heather: (2)Colin(3) Laura: |
| Anne turns Ross down. He goes to his next choice, Elena. | Elena turns Andy down. He goes to his next choice, Heather. |
| Stage 9 offers | Stage 10 offers |
| Anne: (1)Jamie(3) Elena: (1)Ross(3) Heather: (2)Colin(3), (1)Andy(3) Laura: |
Anne: (1)Jamie(3) Elena: (1)Ross(3) Heather: (1)Andy(3) Laura: (4)Colin(4) |
| Heather turns Colin down. He goes to his next choice, Laura. | All women have received offers; the process is complete. |