Apatite or appetite?
apatite is a noun meaning “A calcium fluoride phosphate of variable composition, sometimes used in the…”; appetite is a noun meaning “A desire to eat food or consume drinks”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) appetite is about 47 times as common as apatite.
What is the difference between apatite and appetite?
| apatite | appetite | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun |
| Meaning | A calcium fluoride phosphate of variable composition, sometimes used in the manufacture of fertilizer, as a gemstone, and (in powdered form) as a pigment, and… | A desire to eat food or consume drinks Any strong desire; an eagerness or longing |
| Example | none recorded | appetite for reading |
| Forms | apatites | appetites |
| Pronunciation | /ˈæpətaɪt/ /ˈæpəˌtaɪt/ | /ˈæp.ɪ.taɪt/ /ˈæp.əˌtaɪt/ |
| In writing | about once in every 6 million words | 7.4 times per million words |
Sources: apatite and appetite in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of apatite and appetite
apatite
- 1
A calcium fluoride phosphate of variable composition, sometimes used in the manufacture of fertilizer, as a gemstone, and (in powdered form) as a pigment, and also produced biologically in bones and…
appetite
- 1
A desire to eat food or consume drinks
- 2
Any strong desire; an eagerness or longing
- 3
The desire for some personal gratification, either of the body or of the mind
appetite for reading
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, apatite or appetite?
apatite appears about once in every 6 million words; appetite 7.4 times per million words.
apatite about once in every 6 million wordsappetite 7.4 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).