stinging vs stoke

stinging

noun
  • The act by which someone receives a sting. 

adj
  • Having the capacity to sting. 

  • Precise and hurtful. 

stoke

noun
  • An act of poking, piercing, thrusting 

verb
  • To attend to or supply a furnace with fuel; to act as a stoker or fireman. 

  • To poke, pierce, thrust. 

  • To encourage a behavior or emotion. 

  • To feed, stir up, especially, a fire or furnace. 

How often have the words stinging and stoke occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )