# spanking vs spiking

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### spanking
*verb · IPA /ˈspæŋkɪŋ/ · frequency rank #20,229*
present participle of spank

### spiking
*adjective · frequency rank #38,173*
spiky

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spanking-vs-spiking