sitesvsspiteTell them apart

Which to use

“sites” and “spite” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,878
“sites” frequency rank
#6,741
“spite” frequency rank
8619
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sites spite
Definition plural of site Ill will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the desire to unjustifiably irritate, annoy, or thwart; a want to disturb or put out another; mild malice

Where the eye mixes sites and spite

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
sites
5 ch
spite

Look-alike desk: sites vs spite

A purely visual mix-up. sites (/saɪts/) and spite (/spaɪt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8619, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sites is recorded at frequency rank #1,878, classified as anoun, pronounced /saɪts/. spite is at rank #6,741, tagged as anoun, pronounced /spaɪt/.

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 8619, this pair ranks #501,586 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sites vs spite

Shared letters: eist. Private to "sites": -. Private to "spite": p.

"sites" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "spite" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sitesistes · siets · sitess · sitse · sittes · ssites · sties
  • spitepsite · sipte · spiet · spitte · sppite · sptie · sspite

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sites" for "spite" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/saɪts/ versus /spaɪt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sites" vs "spite" - which ranks higher?
"sites" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,878 in our English list, against #6,741 for "spite". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sites" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #501,586 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sites" and "spite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sate vs spite". 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 #501,586 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list