spyvssuppConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#4,799
“spy” frequency rank
#33,869
“supp” frequency rank
38668
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spy supp
Definition A person who secretly watches and examines the actions of other individuals or organizations and gathers information on them (usually to gain an advantage). A support (in a competitive video game, a player or character who supports or heals their team's players rather than directly engaging enemies).

Letter map: spy vs supp

Shared letters muted; letters that set spy and supp apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
spy
4 ch
supp

Spelling & dictionary notes on spy vs supp

spy and supp are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38668, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spy is recorded at frequency rank #4,799, classified as anoun, pronounced /spaɪ/. supp is at rank #33,869, tagged as anoun.

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 38668, this pair ranks #283,883 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of spy vs supp

Shared letters: ps. Private to "spy": y. Private to "supp": u.

"spy" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "supp" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • suppspup · ssupp · uspp

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "spy" for "supp" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary English text, does "spy" or "supp" show up more?
"spy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,799 in our English list, against #33,869 for "supp". 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 "spy" and "supp".

  • Full dictionary entry for "spy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "supp" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #283,883 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spy" and "supp" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "supp vs sura". 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 #283,883 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