Which to use
“stake” and “start” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,631
- “stake” frequency rank
- #248
- “start” frequency rank
- 5879
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stake | start |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | The beginning of an activity. |
Where the eye mixes stake and start
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between stake and start
A purely visual mix-up. stake (/steɪk/) and start (/stɑːt/) 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 5879, 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/. start is at rank #248, tagged as anoun, pronounced /stɑːt/.
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 5879, this pair ranks #513,652 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of stake vs start
Shared letters: ast. Private to "stake": ek. Private to "start": r.
"stake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "start" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "stake" and "start" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "stake" vs "start" - which ranks higher?
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 "start" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #513,652 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stake" and "start" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stake 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 #513,652 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.