stoker

/ˈstoʊkɚ/

//ˈstoʊkɚ// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"stoker" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“stoker” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #35,537. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#35,537
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A person who stokes, especially one on a steamship or steam train, who stokes coal in the boilers.

Corpus desk

Index EN-stoker · stoker · English

stoker · rank #35,537 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #35,537
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH stencil

Nearest frequency peer: stencil (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “stoker”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “stoker” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

stoker vs store
67% similar
stoker vs stone
67% similar
stoker vs stole
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for stoker
PropertyValue
Headwordstoker
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈstoʊkɚ/
Letters6
Frequency rank#35,537
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “stoker”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).stokerlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “stencil” (#35,536), “SSA” (#35,534), “sputtering” (#35,533). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “stoker” is #35,537. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around stoker (IPA /ˈstoʊkɚ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #35,537 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for stoker, with forms such as "sotker", "sstoker", and "stkoer". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "store", "stone", "stole", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle Dutch stoker (“stoker”), from Middle Dutch stoken (“to stoke, incite”, literally “to poke, jab, thrust”), ultimately equivalent to stoke + -er. More at stoke. Compare typologically Russian кочега́р (kočegár) (akin to кочерга́ (kočergá, “poker”)). The correct English form is stoker, spelled S-T-O-K-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    A person who stokes, especially one on a steamship or steam train, who stokes coal in the boilers.
  2. 2
    A device for stoking a fire; a poker.
  3. 3
    A device that feeds coal into a furnace, etc., automatically.
  4. 4
    A person who pedals on the back of a tandem bicycle.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how stoker appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. For this was a line so little frequented, especially at this hour, when the driver, the stoker, the guard and the station staffs all along the line, were anhelating towards their wives, after the long hours of continence, that the train would hardly draw up, when it would be off again, like a bouncing ball.
  2. He held strongly to the black-ganger's philosophy - what is the use of all the radar and guns and torpedoes if you don't have the engineers and stokers to put them in the right position?

Etymology

From Middle Dutch stoker (“stoker”), from Middle Dutch stoken (“to stoke, incite”, literally “to poke, jab, thrust”), ultimately equivalent to stoke + -er. More at stoke. Compare typologically Russian кочега́р (kočegár) (akin to кочерга́ (kočergá, “poker”)).

Synonyms

firestickpoker

This word in other languages

fogonero(Español)chauffeur(Français)Heizer(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • sotker
  • sstoker
  • stkoer
  • stoekr
  • stokerr
  • stokker
  • stokre
  • sttoker
  • tsoker

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of stoker - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

sotker2sstoker1stkoer2stoekr2stokerr1stokker1stokre2sttoker1
Edit distance from "stoker"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "stoker"?
"stoker" is spelled S-T-O-K-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈstoʊkɚ/.
What does "stoker" mean?
As a noun, "stoker" means: A person who stokes, especially one on a steamship or steam train, who stokes coal in the boilers.
What words are commonly confused with "stoker"?
"stoker" is commonly confused with "store", "stone", "stole". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "stoker"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "stoker" is /ˈstoʊkɚ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "stoker"?
From Middle Dutch stoker (“stoker”), from Middle Dutch stoken (“to stoke, incite”, literally “to poke, jab, thrust”), ultimately equivalent to stoke + -er. More at stoke. Compare typologically Russian кочега́р (kočegár) (akin to кочерга́ (kočergá,... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "stoker", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

sombre#35,523Shiraz#35,513Shiite#35,512turnip#35,562

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

weeding9 variantsRaffles9 variantspulsed9 variantsairfare9 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list