Which to use
“spades” is a noun and “Spires” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,318
- “spades” frequency rank
- #38,174
- “Spires” frequency rank
- 62492
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spades | Spires |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of spade | A surname. |
Letter map: spades vs Spires
Shared letters muted; letters that set spades and Spires apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Role in the sentence - spades and Spires
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: spades is anoun and Spiresaname. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62492, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spades is recorded at frequency rank #24,318, classified as anoun, pronounced /speɪdz/. Spires is at rank #38,174, tagged as aname.
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 62492, this pair ranks #88,207 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of spades vs Spires
Shared letters: eps. Private to "spades": ad. Private to "Spires": ir.
"spades" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "Spires" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "spades" and "Spires" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "spades" vs "Spires" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've compared "spades" and "Spires". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "spades" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Spires" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #88,207 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spades" and "Spires" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "snipes vs Spires". 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 #88,207 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.