stacksvsstakeConfusable pair

Which to use

“stacks” and “stake” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,279
“stacks” frequency rank
#5,631
“stake” frequency rank
20910
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stacks stake
Definition A large amount of money, especially winnings. A piece of wood or other material, usually long and slender, pointed at one end so as to be easily driven into the ground as a marker or a support or stay.

Letter map: stacks vs stake

Shared letters muted; letters that set stacks and stake apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
stacks
5 ch
stake

Pair insight - stacks / stake

stacks and stake 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20910, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stacks is recorded at frequency rank #15,279, classified as anoun. stake is at rank #5,631, tagged as anoun, pronounced /steɪk/.

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 20910, this pair ranks #427,778 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stacks vs stake

Shared letters: akst. Private to "stacks": c. Private to "stake": e.

"stacks" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC  ·  "stake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stackssatcks · sstacks · staccks · stackks · stackss · stacsk · stakcs · stcaks
  • stakesatke · sstake · staek · stakke · stkae · sttake · tsake

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "stacks" and "stake" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "stacks" or "stake"?
"stake" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,631 in our English list, against #15,279 for "stacks". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "stacks" and "stake". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stacks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stake" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #427,778 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stacks" and "stake" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stacks vs staves". 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 #427,778 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