Which to use
“spear” and “speed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,296
- “spear” frequency rank
- #1,099
- “speed” frequency rank
- 12395
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spear | speed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A long stick with a sharp tip used as a weapon for throwing or thrusting, or anything used to make a thrusting motion. | The state of moving quickly or the capacity for rapid motion. |
Where the eye mixes spear and speed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: spear vs speed
A purely visual mix-up. spear (/spɪə̯(ɹ)/) and speed (/spiːd/) 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 12395, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spear is recorded at frequency rank #11,296, classified as anoun, pronounced /spɪə̯(ɹ)/. speed is at rank #1,099, tagged as anoun, pronounced /spiːd/.
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 12395, this pair ranks #481,811 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of spear vs speed
Shared letters: eps. Private to "spear": ar. Private to "speed": d.
"spear" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "speed" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "spear" and "speed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "spear" or "speed" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "spear" and "speed" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "spear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "speed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #481,811 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spear" and "speed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sagar vs spear". 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 #481,811 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.