spicedvsspiteWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: spiced is a adjective, spite is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“spiced” is an adjective and “spite” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,384
“spiced” frequency rank
#6,741
“spite” frequency rank
35125
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spiced spite
Definition Having spice added, spicy. Ill will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the desire to unjustifiably irritate, annoy, or thwart; a want to disturb or put out another; mild malice

Where the eye mixes spiced and spite

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
spiced
5 ch
spite

Look-alike desk: spiced vs spite

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: spiced is /spaɪst/ while spite is /spaɪt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35125, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spiced is recorded at frequency rank #28,384, classified as anadj, pronounced /spaɪst/. spite is at rank #6,741, tagged as anoun, pronounced /spaɪt/.

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 35125, this pair ranks #314,680 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of spiced vs spite

Shared letters: eips. Private to "spiced": cd. Private to "spite": t.

"spiced" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "spite" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spicedpsiced · sipced · spcied · spicced · spicde · spicedd · spiecd · sppiced
  • spitepsite · sipte · spiet · spitte · sppite · sptie · sspite

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "spiced" and "spite" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "spiced" is an adjective and "spite" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "spiced" or "spite"?
"spite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,741 in our English list, against #28,384 for "spiced". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "spiced" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #314,680 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spiced" and "spite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spiced vs spiel". 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 #314,680 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list