Which to use
“stale” is an adjective and “stank” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,589
- “stale” frequency rank
- #39,107
- “stank” frequency rank
- 55696
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stale | stank |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Clear, free of dregs and lees; old and strong. | simple past of stink |
Where the eye mixes stale and stank
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. stale (CCVCV) and stank (CCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: stale vs stank
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stale is /steɪl/ while stank is /stæŋk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55696, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stale is recorded at frequency rank #16,589, classified as anadj, pronounced /steɪl/. stank is at rank #39,107, tagged as averb, pronounced /stæŋk/.
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 55696, this pair ranks #131,696 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of stale vs stank
Shared letters: ast. Private to "stale": el. Private to "stank": kn.
"stale" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "stank" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "stale" and "stank" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "stale" or "stank" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "stale" and "stank" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "stale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stank" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #131,696 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stale" and "stank" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stank vs staph". 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 #131,696 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.