Which to use
“staking” and “straying” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,033
- “staking” frequency rank
- #42,425
- “straying” frequency rank
- 75458
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | staking | straying |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of stake | present participle and gerund of stray |
Letter map: staking vs straying
Shared letters muted; letters that set staking and straying apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Pair insight - staking / straying
staking and straying are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75458, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
staking is recorded at frequency rank #33,033, classified as averb. straying is at rank #42,425, tagged as averb.
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 75458, this pair ranks #33,046 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of staking vs straying
Shared letters: aginst. Private to "staking": k. Private to "straying": ry.
"staking" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC · "straying" · 8 letters · shape CCCVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "staking" and "straying" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "staking" or "straying"?
Useful next steps
You've compared "staking" and "straying". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "staking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "straying" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #33,046 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "staking" and "straying" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "straying vs striding". 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 #33,046 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.