SpiresvsspiteTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#38,174
“Spires” frequency rank
#6,741
“spite” frequency rank
44915
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Spires spite
Definition A surname. 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: Spires vs spite

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

6 ch
Spires
5 ch
spite

Grammar separator: Spires vs spite

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Spires is aname and spiteanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44915, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Spires is recorded at frequency rank #38,174, classified as aname. 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 44915, this pair ranks #226,146 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Spires vs spite

Shared letters: eips. Private to "Spires": r. Private to "spite": t.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Spirespsires · sipres · spiers · spiress · spirres · spirse · sppires · spries
  • spitepsite · sipte · spiet · spitte · sppite · sptie · sspite

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Spires" and "spite" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Spires" is a name and "spite" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Spires" or "spite"?
"spite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,741 in our English list, against #38,174 for "Spires". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Spires" and "spite".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Spires" 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 #226,146 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Spires" and "spite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "snipes vs Spires". 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 #226,146 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