Which to use
“stake” and “statue” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,631
- “stake” frequency rank
- #6,186
- “statue” frequency rank
- 11817
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stake | statue |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | A three-dimensional work of art, usually representing a person or animal, usually created by sculpting, carving, molding, or casting. |
Where the eye mixes stake and statue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between stake and statue
A purely visual mix-up. stake (/steɪk/) and statue (/ˈstæt͡ʃ.uː/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11817, 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/. statue is at rank #6,186, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈstæt͡ʃ.uː/.
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 11817, this pair ranks #484,975 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of stake vs statue
Shared letters: aest. Private to "stake": k. Private to "statue": u.
"stake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "statue" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "stake" and "statue" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "stake" or "statue" show up more?
After this comparison
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 "statue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #484,975 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stake" and "statue" 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 #484,975 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.