Which to use
“spook” and “spore” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,857
- “spook” frequency rank
- #29,101
- “spore” frequency rank
- 62958
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spook | spore |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A ghost or phantom. | A reproductive particle, usually a single cell, released by a fungus, alga, or plant that may germinate into another. |
Where the eye mixes spook and spore
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between spook and spore
A purely visual mix-up. spook (/spuːk/) and spore (/spɔː(ɹ)/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62958, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spook is recorded at frequency rank #33,857, classified as anoun, pronounced /spuːk/. spore is at rank #29,101, tagged as anoun, pronounced /spɔː(ɹ)/.
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 62958, this pair ranks #85,611 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of spook vs spore
Shared letters: ops. Private to "spook": k. Private to "spore": er.
"spook" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "spore" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "spook" and "spore" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "spook" or "spore"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "spook" and "spore" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "spook" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spore" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #85,611 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spook" and "spore" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "smock vs spook". 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 #85,611 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.