Which to use
“stake” and “staves” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,631
- “stake” frequency rank
- #47,350
- “staves” frequency rank
- 52981
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stake | staves |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | plural of staff. |
Where the eye mixes stake and staves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between stake and staves
A purely visual mix-up. stake (/steɪk/) and staves (/steɪvz/) 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 52981, 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/. staves is at rank #47,350, tagged as anoun, pronounced /steɪvz/.
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 52981, this pair ranks #152,646 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of stake vs staves
Shared letters: aest. Private to "stake": k. Private to "staves": v.
"stake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "staves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "stake" for "staves" ever safe?
Which is more common, "stake" or "staves"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "stake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "staves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #152,646 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stake" and "staves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "staves vs stover". 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 #152,646 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.