Which to use
“stake” and “stamp” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,631
- “stake” frequency rank
- #6,012
- “stamp” frequency rank
- 11643
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stake | stamp |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | An act of stamping the foot, paw or hoof. |
Where the eye mixes stake and stamp
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses stake with stamp
A purely visual mix-up. stake (/steɪk/) and stamp (/stæmp/) 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 11643, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stake is recorded at frequency rank #5,631, classified as anoun, pronounced /steɪk/. stamp is at rank #6,012, tagged as anoun, pronounced /stæmp/.
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 11643, this pair ranks #485,914 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of stake vs stamp
Shared letters: ast. Private to "stake": ek. Private to "stamp": mp.
"stake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "stamp" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "stake" for "stamp" ever safe?
Which is more common, "stake" or "stamp"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "stake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stamp" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #485,914 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stake" and "stamp" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stamp vs staph". 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 #485,914 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.