Which to use
“stoker” is a noun and “stokes” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,537
- “stoker” frequency rank
- #13,617
- “stokes” frequency rank
- 49154
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stoker | stokes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A person who stokes, especially one on a steamship or steam train, who stokes coal in the boilers. | third-person singular simple present indicative of stoke |
Letter map: stoker vs stokes
Shared letters muted; letters that set stoker and stokes apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. stoker and stokes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Part-of-speech tell for stoker / stokes
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: stoker is anoun and stokesaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - r in “stoker” becomes s in “stokes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49154, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stoker is recorded at frequency rank #35,537, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈstoʊkɚ/. stokes is at rank #13,617, 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 49154, this pair ranks #186,319 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of stoker vs stokes
Shared letters: ekost. Private to "stoker": r. Private to "stokes": -.
"stoker" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "stokes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "stoker" for "stokes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "stoker" vs "stokes" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pair "stoker" vs "stokes" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "stoker" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stokes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #186,319 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stoker" and "stokes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stoker vs stover". 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 #186,319 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.