Which to use
“spate” and “swath” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,701
- “spate” frequency rank
- #35,974
- “swath” frequency rank
- 73675
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spate | swath |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | The track cut out by a scythe in mowing. |
Where the eye mixes spate and swath
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. spate (CCVCV) and swath (CCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between spate and swath
A purely visual mix-up. spate (/speɪt/) and swath (/swɒθ/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73675, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spate is recorded at frequency rank #37,701, classified as anoun, pronounced /speɪt/. swath is at rank #35,974, tagged as anoun, pronounced /swɒθ/.
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 73675, this pair ranks #38,814 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of spate vs swath
Shared letters: ast. Private to "spate": ep. Private to "swath": hw.
"spate" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "swath" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "spate" for "swath" ever safe?
Frequency check: "spate" vs "swath" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "spate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "swath" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #38,814 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spate" and "swath" 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 #38,814 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.