# stake

> English word · Noun · IPA /steɪk/ · frequency rank #5,631

## Definitions
1. A piece of wood or other material, usually long and slender, pointed at one end so as to be easily driven into the ground as a marker or a support or stay.
2. A piece of wood driven in the ground, placed in the middle of the court, that is used as the finishing point after scoring 12 hoops in croquet.
3. A stick or similar object (e.g., steel channel or angle stock) inserted upright in a lop, eye, or mortise, at the side or end of a cart, flat car, flatbed trailer, or the like, to prevent goods from falling off; often connected in a grid forming a stakebody.
4. The piece of timber to which a person condemned to death was affixed to be burned.
5. A share or interest in a business or a given situation.
6. That which is laid down as a wager; that which is staked or hazarded; a pledge.
7. A small anvil usually furnished with a tang to enter a hole in a bench top, as used by tinsmiths, blacksmiths, etc., for light work, punching hole in or cutting a work piece, or for specific forming techniques etc.
8. A territorial division comprising all the Mormons (typically several thousand) in a geographical area.

## Etymology
From Middle English stake, from Old English staca (“pin, tack, stake”), from Proto-West Germanic *stakō, from Proto-Germanic *stakô (“stake”), from Proto-Indo-European *stog-, *steg- (“stake”).
Cognate with Scots stak, staik, Saterland Frisian Stak, West Frisian staak, Dutch staak, Low German Stake, Norwegian stake, Spanish estaca.

## Easily confused with
- **stay** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-stay)
- **star** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-star)
- **stan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-stan)
- **stat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-stat)
- **state** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-state)
- **start** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-start)
- **stand** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-stand)
- **style** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-style)
- **store** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-store)
- **stars** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-stars)
- **stone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-stone)
- **Steve** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-steve)
- **stats** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-stats)
- **stays** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-stays)
- **stole** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-stole)
- **stamp** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-stamp)
- **stark** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-stark)
- **steak** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-steak)
- **stare** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-stare)
- **stall** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stake-vs-stall)

## Common misspellings (7)
`satke`, `sstake`, `staek`, `stakke`, `stkae`, `sttake`, `tsake`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/stake