Which to use
“stank” is a verb and “stave” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,107
- “stank” frequency rank
- #27,656
- “stave” frequency rank
- 66763
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stank | stave |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past of stink | One of a number of narrow strips of wood, or narrow iron plates, placed edge to edge to form the sides, covering, or lining of a vessel or structure; especially, one of the strips which form the sides of a cask, barrel, pail, etc. |
Where the eye mixes stank and stave
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses stank with stave
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stank is /stæŋk/ while stave is /steɪv/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66763, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stank is recorded at frequency rank #39,107, classified as averb, pronounced /stæŋk/. stave is at rank #27,656, tagged as anoun, pronounced /steɪv/.
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 66763, this pair ranks #66,504 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of stank vs stave
Shared letters: ast. Private to "stank": kn. Private to "stave": ev.
"stank" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "stave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "stank" for "stave" ever safe?
Which is more common, "stank" or "stave"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "stank" and "stave" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "stank" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #66,504 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stank" and "stave" 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 #66,504 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.