Which to use
“soaking” and “staking” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,588
- “soaking” frequency rank
- #33,033
- “staking” frequency rank
- 49621
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soaking | staking |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of soak | present participle and gerund of stake |
Letter map: soaking vs staking
Shared letters muted; letters that set soaking and staking apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Spelling & dictionary notes on soaking vs staking
soaking and staking are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - o in “soaking” becomes t in “staking”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49621, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
soaking is recorded at frequency rank #16,588, classified as averb. staking is at rank #33,033, 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 49621, this pair ranks #181,882 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of soaking vs staking
Shared letters: agikns. Private to "soaking": o. Private to "staking": t.
"soaking" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "staking" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "soaking" for "staking" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "soaking" or "staking" show up more?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "soaking" and "staking".
- Full dictionary entry for "soaking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "staking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #181,882 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soaking" and "staking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "staking vs sulking". 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 #181,882 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.