stakesvsstatsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,962
“stakes” frequency rank
#4,124
“stats” frequency rank
11086
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stakes stats
Definition plural of stake Clipping of statistics (the subject).

Where the eye mixes stakes and stats

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
stakes
5 ch
stats

Look-alike desk: stakes vs stats

A purely visual mix-up. stakes (/steɪks/) and stats (/stæts/) 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 11086, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stakes is recorded at frequency rank #6,962, classified as anoun, pronounced /steɪks/. stats is at rank #4,124, tagged as anoun, pronounced /stæts/.

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 11086, this pair ranks #488,966 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stakes vs stats

Shared letters: ast. Private to "stakes": ek. Private to "stats": -.

"stakes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "stats" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stakessatkes · sstakes · staeks · stakess · stakkes · stakse · stkaes · sttakes
  • statssatts · sstats · stast · statss · statts · sttas · sttats · tsats

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "stakes" for "stats" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/steɪks/ versus /stæts/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "stakes" vs "stats" - which ranks higher?
"stats" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,124 in our English list, against #6,962 for "stakes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stakes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stats" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #488,966 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stakes" and "stats" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stakes 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 #488,966 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