Which to use
“bakes” is a verb and “blake” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,135
- “bakes” frequency rank
- #5,480
- “blake” frequency rank
- 45615
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bakes | blake |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of bake | Yellow, as butter or cheese. |
Where the eye mixes bakes and blake
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. bakes (CVCVC) and blake (CCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses bakes with blake
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bakes is /beɪks/ while blake is /bleɪk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45615, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bakes is recorded at frequency rank #40,135, classified as averb, pronounced /beɪks/. blake is at rank #5,480, tagged as anadj, pronounced /bleɪk/.
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 45615, this pair ranks #219,568 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bakes vs blake
Shared letters: abek. Private to "bakes": s. Private to "blake": l.
"bakes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "blake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bakes" and "blake" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "bakes" or "blake" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bakes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "blake" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #219,568 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bakes" and "blake" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bails vs bakes". 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 #219,568 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.