Which to use
“skates” and “spate” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,972
- “skates” frequency rank
- #37,701
- “spate” frequency rank
- 57673
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | skates | spate |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of skate | A (sudden) flood or inundation of water; specifically, a flood in or overflow of a river or other watercourse due to heavy rain or melting snow; (uncountable, archaic) flooding, inundation. |
Where the eye mixes skates and spate
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. skates runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against spate's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between skates and spate
A purely visual mix-up. skates (/skeɪts/) and spate (/speɪt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57673, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
skates is recorded at frequency rank #19,972, classified as anoun, pronounced /skeɪts/. spate is at rank #37,701, tagged as anoun, pronounced /speɪt/.
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 57673, this pair ranks #117,803 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of skates vs spate
Shared letters: aest. Private to "skates": k. Private to "spate": p.
"skates" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "spate" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "skates" for "spate" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "skates" or "spate" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "skates" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #117,803 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "skates" and "spate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sate vs spate". 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 #117,803 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.