Which to use
“strikes” and “stroke” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,717
- “strikes” frequency rank
- #4,555
- “stroke” frequency rank
- 9272
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | strikes | stroke |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of strike | An act of hitting; a blow, a hit. |
Where the eye mixes strikes and stroke
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between strikes and stroke
A purely visual mix-up. strikes (/stɹaɪks/) and stroke (/stɹəʊk/) 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 9272, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
strikes is recorded at frequency rank #4,717, classified as anoun, pronounced /stɹaɪks/. stroke is at rank #4,555, tagged as anoun, pronounced /stɹəʊk/.
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 9272, this pair ranks #498,236 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of strikes vs stroke
Shared letters: ekrst. Private to "strikes": i. Private to "stroke": o.
"strikes" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCVC · "stroke" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "strikes" and "stroke" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "strikes" or "stroke" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "strikes" and "stroke" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "strikes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stroke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #498,236 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "strikes" and "stroke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stroke vs strove". 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 #498,236 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.