# spike vs spiky

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### spike
*noun · IPA /spaɪk/ · frequency rank #7,612*
A sort of very large nail.

### spiky
*adjective · IPA /ˈspaɪki/ · frequency rank #39,582*
Of a plant: producing spikes (“ears (as of corn); inflorescences in which sessile flowers are arranged on unbranched elongated axes”).

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