spacesvsspiceWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: spaces is a verb, spice is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“spaces” is a verb and “spice” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,421
“spaces” frequency rank
#32,775
“spice” frequency rank
71196
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spaces spice
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs space Teile von Pflanzen, die wegen ihres natürlichen Gehaltes an Geschmacks- und Geruchsstoffen als würzende oder geschmacksgebende Zutaten bei der Zubereitung von Speisen und Getränken aller Art eingesetzt werden

Letter map: spaces vs spice

Shared letters muted; letters that set spaces and spice apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
spaces
5 ch
spice

Role in the sentence - spaces and spice

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: spaces is averb and spiceanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71196, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spaces is recorded at frequency rank #38,421, classified as averb, pronounced […]. spice is at rank #32,775, tagged as anoun, pronounced [spaɪs].

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 71196, this pair ranks #423,776 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of spaces vs spice

Shared letters: ceps. Private to "spaces": a. Private to "spice": i.

"spaces" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "spice" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spacespsaces · sapces · spacces · spacess · spacse · spaecs · spcaes · sppaces
  • spicepsice · sipce · spcie · spicce · spiec · sppice · sspice

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "spaces" and "spice" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "spaces" is a verb and "spice" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "spaces" vs "spice" - which ranks higher?
"spice" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,775 in our German list, against #38,421 for "spaces". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "spaces" and "spice".

  • Full dictionary entry for "spaces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spice" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #423,776 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spaces" and "spice" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs spaces". 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 #423,776 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list