sakesvsstokesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: sakes is a noun, stokes is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sakes” is a noun and “stokes” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,006
“sakes” frequency rank
#13,617
“stokes” frequency rank
46623
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sakes stokes
Definition plural of sake (“benefit”) third-person singular simple present indicative of stoke

Letter map: sakes vs stokes

Shared letters muted; letters that set sakes and stokes apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. sakes runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against stokes's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
sakes
6 ch
stokes

Role in the sentence - sakes and stokes

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sakes is anoun and stokesaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46623, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sakes is recorded at frequency rank #33,006, classified as anoun, pronounced /seɪks/. stokes is at rank #13,617, tagged as averb.

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 46623, this pair ranks #209,988 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sakes vs stokes

Shared letters: eks. Private to "sakes": a. Private to "stokes": ot.

"sakes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "stokes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sakes ← askes · saeks · sakess · sakkes · sakse · skaes · ssakes
  • stokes ← sotkes · sstokes · stkoes · stoeks · stokess · stokkes · stokse · sttokes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sakes" and "stokes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sakes" is a noun and "stokes" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sakes" vs "stokes" - which ranks higher?
"stokes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,617 in our English list, against #33,006 for "sakes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "sakes" and "stokes".

  • Full dictionary entry for "sakes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stokes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #209,988 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sakes" and "stokes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sakes vs saki". 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 #209,988 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list