Which to use
“stroke” and “strokes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,555
- “stroke” frequency rank
- #10,452
- “strokes” frequency rank
- 15007
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stroke | strokes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An act of hitting; a blow, a hit. | plural of stroke |
Where the eye mixes stroke and strokes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: stroke vs strokes
A purely visual mix-up. stroke (/stɹəʊk/) and strokes (/stɹoʊks/) 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 extra letter(s) - “stroke” sits inside “strokes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15007, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stroke is recorded at frequency rank #4,555, classified as anoun, pronounced /stɹəʊk/. strokes is at rank #10,452, tagged as anoun, pronounced /stɹoʊks/.
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 15007, this pair ranks #466,607 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of stroke vs strokes
Shared letters: ekorst. Private to "stroke": -. Private to "strokes": -.
"stroke" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV · "strokes" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "stroke" and "strokes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "stroke" or "strokes"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "stroke" and "strokes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "stroke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "strokes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #466,607 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stroke" and "strokes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "strokes 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 #466,607 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.