Which to use
“spilt” is an adjective and “spina” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,598
- “spilt” frequency rank
- #43,383
- “spina” frequency rank
- 75981
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spilt | spina |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | That has been spilled. | A spine; the backbone. |
Where the eye mixes spilt and spina
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. spilt (CCVCC) and spina (CCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: spilt vs spina
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: spilt is /spɪlt/ while spina is /ˈspaɪ.nə/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75981, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spilt is recorded at frequency rank #32,598, classified as anadj, pronounced /spɪlt/. spina is at rank #43,383, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈspaɪ.nə/.
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 75981, this pair ranks #31,459 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of spilt vs spina
Shared letters: ips. Private to "spilt": lt. Private to "spina": an.
"spilt" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "spina" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "spilt" for "spina" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "spilt" or "spina" show up more?
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 "spilt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spina" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #31,459 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spilt" and "spina" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "SNA vs spina". 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 #31,459 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.