Which to use
“strife” and “strikes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,254
- “strife” frequency rank
- #4,717
- “strikes” frequency rank
- 21971
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | strife | strikes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Striving; earnest endeavor; hard work. | plural of strike |
Where the eye mixes strife and strikes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. strife runs 6 letters (CCCVCV) against strikes's 7 (CCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses strife with strikes
A purely visual mix-up. strife (/stɹaɪf/) and strikes (/stɹaɪks/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21971, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
strife is recorded at frequency rank #17,254, classified as anoun, pronounced /stɹaɪf/. 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 21971, this pair ranks #420,008 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of strife vs strikes
Shared letters: eirst. Private to "strife": f. Private to "strikes": k.
"strife" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV · "strikes" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "strife" and "strikes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "strife" or "strikes" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "strife" and "strikes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "strife" 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 #420,008 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "strife" and "strikes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "serine vs strife". 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 #420,008 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.