Which to use
“spelt” and “spew” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,111
- “spelt” frequency rank
- #33,028
- “spew” frequency rank
- 56139
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spelt | spew |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of spell | To eject forcibly and in a stream, |
Where the eye mixes spelt and spew
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. spelt runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against spew's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses spelt with spew
A purely visual mix-up. spelt (/ˈspɛlt/) and spew (/spjuː/) 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 56139, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spelt is recorded at frequency rank #23,111, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈspɛlt/. spew is at rank #33,028, tagged as averb, pronounced /spjuː/.
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 56139, this pair ranks #128,431 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of spelt vs spew
Shared letters: eps. Private to "spelt": lt. Private to "spew": w.
"spelt" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "spew" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "spelt" and "spew" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "spelt" or "spew" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "spelt" and "spew" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "spelt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spew" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #128,431 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spelt" and "spew" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sez vs spew". 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 #128,431 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.