Which to use
“smoke” and “stone” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,824
- “smoke” frequency rank
- #9,099
- “stone” frequency rank
- 42923
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | smoke | stone |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Rauch von etwas Brennendem | Stein |
Where the eye mixes smoke and stone
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between smoke and stone
A purely visual mix-up. smoke ([sməʊk]) and stone ([stəʊn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42923, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
smoke is recorded at frequency rank #33,824, classified as anoun, pronounced [sməʊk]. stone is at rank #9,099, tagged as anoun, pronounced [stəʊn].
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 42923, this pair ranks #1,434,210 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of smoke vs stone
Shared letters: eos. Private to "smoke": km. Private to "stone": nt.
"smoke" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "stone" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "smoke" and "stone" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "smoke" or "stone"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "smoke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stone" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,434,210 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "smoke" and "stone" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Smog vs smoke". 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 #1,434,210 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.