spikedvsspiteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#21,666
“spiked” frequency rank
#6,741
“spite” frequency rank
28407
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spiked spite
Definition Containing alcohol or drugs, often without the knowledge of those who partake. 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

Letter map: spiked vs spite

Shared letters muted; letters that set spiked and spite apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
spiked
5 ch
spite

Role in the sentence - spiked and spite

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: spiked is anadjective and spiteanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28407, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spiked is recorded at frequency rank #21,666, classified as anadj. 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 28407, this pair ranks #371,301 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of spiked vs spite

Shared letters: eips. Private to "spiked": dk. Private to "spite": t.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spikedpsiked · sipked · spiekd · spikde · spikedd · spikked · spkied · sppiked
  • spitepsite · sipte · spiet · spitte · sppite · sptie · sspite

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "spiked" for "spite" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "spiked" is an adjective and "spite" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "spiked" or "spite" show up more?
"spite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,741 in our English list, against #21,666 for "spiked". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "spiked" and "spite". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "spiked" 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 #371,301 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spiked" and "spite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spiel vs spiked". 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 #371,301 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