Which to use
“single” is an adjective and “spindle” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #380
- “single” frequency rank
- #25,590
- “spindle” frequency rank
- 25970
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | single | spindle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Not accompanied by anything else; one in number. | A rod used for spinning and then winding fibres (especially wool), usually consisting of a shaft and a circular whorl positioned at either the upper or lower end of the shaft when suspended vertically from the forming thread. |
Where the eye mixes single and spindle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses single with spindle
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: single is /ˈsɪŋɡl̩/ while spindle is /ˈspɪndəl/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25970, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
single is recorded at frequency rank #380, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈsɪŋɡl̩/. spindle is at rank #25,590, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈspɪndəl/.
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 25970, this pair ranks #390,207 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of single vs spindle
Shared letters: eilns. Private to "single": g. Private to "spindle": dp.
"single" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "spindle" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "single" for "spindle" ever safe?
Which is more common, "single" or "spindle"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "single" and "spindle" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "single" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spindle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #390,207 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "single" and "spindle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spindle vs swindle". 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 #390,207 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.