stakingvssuckingConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#33,033
“staking” frequency rank
#8,614
“sucking” frequency rank
41647
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature staking sucking
Definition present participle and gerund of stake present participle and gerund of suck

Letter map: staking vs sucking

Shared letters muted; letters that set staking and sucking apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. staking (CCVCVCC) and sucking (CVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
staking
7 ch
sucking

Corpus notes: staking and sucking

staking and sucking 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41647, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

staking is recorded at frequency rank #33,033, classified as averb. sucking is at rank #8,614, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈsʌkɪŋ/.

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 41647, this pair ranks #256,347 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of staking vs sucking

Shared letters: gikns. Private to "staking": at. Private to "sucking": cu.

"staking" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC  ·  "sucking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • staking ← satking · sstaking · staikng · stakign · stakingg · stakinng · stakking · staknig
  • sucking ← scuking · ssucking · succking · sucikng · suckign · suckingg · suckinng · suckking

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "staking" and "sucking" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "staking" vs "sucking" - which ranks higher?
"sucking" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,614 in our English list, against #33,033 for "staking". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "staking" and "sucking".

  • Full dictionary entry for "staking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sucking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #256,347 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "staking" and "sucking" 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 #256,347 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