Which to use
“staking” is a verb and “stinking” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,033
- “staking” frequency rank
- #27,658
- “stinking” frequency rank
- 60691
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | staking | stinking |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of stake | Having a pungent smell. |
Letter map: staking vs stinking
Shared letters muted; letters that set staking and stinking apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Role in the sentence - staking and stinking
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: staking is averb and stinkinganadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60691, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
staking is recorded at frequency rank #33,033, classified as averb. stinking is at rank #27,658, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈstɪŋkɪŋ/.
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 60691, this pair ranks #98,660 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of staking vs stinking
Shared letters: giknst. Private to "staking": a. Private to "stinking": -.
"staking" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC · "stinking" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "staking" and "stinking" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "staking" vs "stinking" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "staking" and "stinking".
- Full dictionary entry for "staking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stinking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #98,660 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "staking" and "stinking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "staking vs sulking". 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 #98,660 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.