Which to use
“spoke” is a noun and “spoken” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,465
- “spoke” frequency rank
- #3,336
- “spoken” frequency rank
- 5801
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spoke | spoken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A support structure that connects the axle or the hub of a wheel to the rim. | Relating to speech. |
Where the eye mixes spoke and spoken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. spoke runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against spoken's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: spoke vs spoken
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: spoke is /spəʊk/ while spoken is /ˈspəʊ.k(ə)n/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “spoke” sits inside “spoken”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5801, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spoke is recorded at frequency rank #2,465, classified as anoun, pronounced /spəʊk/. spoken is at rank #3,336, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈspəʊ.k(ə)n/.
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 5801, this pair ranks #513,976 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of spoke vs spoken
Shared letters: ekops. Private to "spoke": -. Private to "spoken": n.
"spoke" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "spoken" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "spoke" for "spoken" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "spoke" or "spoken" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "spoke" and "spoken" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "spoke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spoken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #513,976 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spoke" and "spoken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sone vs spoke". 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 #513,976 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.