spitvssuitsConfusable pair

Which to use

“spit” and “suits” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,987
“spit” frequency rank
#4,719
“suits” frequency rank
13706
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spit suits
Definition A thin metal or wooden rod on which meat is skewered for cooking, often over a fire. plural of suit

Where the eye mixes spit and suits

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
spit
5 ch
suits

Visual trap between spit and suits

A purely visual mix-up. spit (/spɪt/) and suits (/s(j)uːts/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13706, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spit is recorded at frequency rank #8,987, classified as anoun, pronounced /spɪt/. suits is at rank #4,719, tagged as anoun, pronounced /s(j)uːts/.

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 13706, this pair ranks #474,271 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of spit vs suits

Shared letters: ist. Private to "spit": p. Private to "suits": u.

"spit" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "suits" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spitpsit · sipt · spitt · sppit · spti · sspit
  • suitssiuts · ssuits · suist · suitss · suitts · sutis · usits

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "spit" for "suits" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/spɪt/ versus /s(j)uːts/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "spit" or "suits"?
"suits" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,719 in our English list, against #8,987 for "spit". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "spit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "suits" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #474,271 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spit" and "suits" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sif vs spit". 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 #474,271 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