Which to use
“spade” and “spud” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,960
- “spade” frequency rank
- #42,419
- “spud” frequency rank
- 61379
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spade | spud |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A garden tool with a handle and a flat blade for digging. Not to be confused with a shovel which is used for moving earth or other materials. | A potato. |
Where the eye mixes spade and spud
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: spade vs spud
A purely visual mix-up. spade (/speɪ̯d/) and spud (/spʌd/) 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 61379, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spade is recorded at frequency rank #18,960, classified as anoun, pronounced /speɪ̯d/. spud is at rank #42,419, tagged as anoun, pronounced /spʌd/.
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 61379, this pair ranks #94,669 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of spade vs spud
Shared letters: dps. Private to "spade": ae. Private to "spud": u.
"spade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "spud" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "spade" and "spud" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "spade" or "spud"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "spade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spud" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #94,669 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spade" and "spud" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spud vs suds". 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 #94,669 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.