Which to use
“stride” and “strike” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,592
- “stride” frequency rank
- #2,234
- “strike” frequency rank
- 18826
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stride | strike |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To walk with long steps. | To delete or cross out; to scratch or eliminate. |
Where the eye mixes stride and strike
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses stride with strike
A purely visual mix-up. stride (/stɹaɪd/) and strike (/stɹaɪk/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - d in “stride” becomes k in “strike”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18826, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stride is recorded at frequency rank #16,592, classified as averb, pronounced /stɹaɪd/. strike is at rank #2,234, tagged as averb, pronounced /stɹaɪk/.
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 18826, this pair ranks #442,308 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of stride vs strike
Shared letters: eirst. Private to "stride": d. Private to "strike": k.
"stride" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV · "strike" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "stride" for "strike" ever safe?
Frequency check: "stride" vs "strike" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "stride" and "strike" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "stride" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "strike" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #442,308 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stride" and "strike" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "staid vs stride". 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 #442,308 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.