stokesvsstrikesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: stokes is a verb, strikes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“stokes” is a verb and “strikes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,617
“stokes” frequency rank
#4,717
“strikes” frequency rank
18334
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stokes strikes
Definition third-person singular simple present indicative of stoke plural of strike

Letter map: stokes vs strikes

Shared letters muted; letters that set stokes and strikes apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. stokes runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against strikes's 7 (CCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
stokes
7 ch
strikes

Role in the sentence - stokes and strikes

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: stokes is averb and strikesanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18334, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stokes is recorded at frequency rank #13,617, classified as averb. strikes is at rank #4,717, tagged as anoun, pronounced /stɹaɪks/.

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 18334, this pair ranks #445,553 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stokes vs strikes

Shared letters: ekst. Private to "stokes": o. Private to "strikes": ir.

"stokes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "strikes" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stokes ← sotkes · sstokes · stkoes · stoeks · stokess · stokkes · stokse · sttokes
  • strikes ← srtikes · sstrikes · stirkes · strieks · strikess · strikkes · strikse · strkies

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "stokes" and "strikes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "stokes" is a verb and "strikes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "stokes" or "strikes"?
"strikes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,717 in our English list, against #13,617 for "stokes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "stokes" and "strikes". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stokes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "strikes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #445,553 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stokes" and "strikes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stokes 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 #445,553 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