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spare

/spɛɚ/adjective, noun, verb

spare is spelled S-P-A-R-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 19 times per million words in written English, the 4,444th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “spare vs spear” about 30 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, spare means “Being more than what is necessary, or what must be used or reserved; not wanted, or not used; superfluous” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in spare?

Letters5: S-P-A-R-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing19 times per million words; the 4,444th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is spare?

Spare appears 19 times per million words in written English, the 4,444th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce spare?

  • UK /spɛə(ɹ)/
  • US /spɛɚ/
  • Australia /speː/

Spare has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-spare.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-spare.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with spare

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

spare vs spear30 G

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with spare?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as spare from its last stressed vowel (/ɛəɹ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: spear, parse, asper, presa, prase.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of spare

  • sparer comparative
  • sparest superlative
  • spares plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • sparing participle, present
  • spared participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does spare mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Being more than what is necessary, or what must be used or reserved; not wanted, or not used; superfluous.

    I have no spare time.

  2. 2

    Held in reserve, to be used in an emergency.

    a spare anchor; a spare wheel or tyre

  3. 3

    Not occupied or in current use.

    We could rent out the spare room.

  4. 4

    Scant; not abundant or plentiful.

    a spare diet

  5. 5

    Austere, stripped down, without what is extraneous.

  6. 6

    Sparing; frugal; parsimonious; not spending much money.

  7. 7

    Lean; lacking flesh; meager; thin; gaunt.

  8. 8

    UKinformalVery angry; frustrated or distraught.

    When he found out that someone had broken the window, he went spare.

noun

  1. 1

    The act of sparing; moderation; restraint.

  2. 2

    Parsimony; frugal use.

  3. 3

    An opening in a petticoat or gown; a placket.

  4. 4

    That which has not been used or expended.

  5. 5

    A spare tire.

    I stopped to help out. Do you have a spare? [Said by one motorist to another with a flat tire.]

  6. 6

    Any car part or comparable machine part in a supply chain.

    People sometimes forget that world-class logistics also involve inventory management in warehouses full of spares.

  7. 7

    A superfluous or second-best person.

    an heir and a spare

  8. 8

    The right of bowling again at a full set of pins, after having knocked all the pins down in less than three bowls. If all the pins are knocked down in one bowl it is a double spare; in two bowls, a single spare.

verb

  1. 1

    To desist; to stop; to refrain.

  2. 2

    To refrain from inflicting harm; to use mercy or forbearance.

  3. 3

    To preserve (someone) from danger or punishment; to forbear to punish, injure, or harm (someone); to show mercy towards.

  4. 4

    To refrain from killing (someone) or having (someone) killed.

  5. 5

    To be frugal; to not be profuse; to live frugally; to be parsimonious.

  6. 6

    To keep to oneself; to forbear to impart or give.

  7. 7

    To save or gain, as by frugality; to reserve, as from some occupation, use, or duty.

  8. 8

    (to give up): To deprive oneself of, as by being frugal; to do without; to dispense with; to give up; to part with.

    Where angry Jove did never spare / One breath of kind and temperate air.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Spare in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanüberschüssig, überflüssig (being over and above what is necessary), Reserve- (held in reserve), frei, unbenutzt (not occupied), spärlich (scanty, not abundant or plentiful)
Frenchrechange (held in reserve), épargner (to reserve from occupation, use or duty)
Spanishde reserva, de repuesto, de recambio / refacción / retén (held in reserve), de sobra, de más (not occupied), repuesto (Translations)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does spare come from?

From Middle English spare, spar, from Old English spær (“sparing, scant”), from Proto-Germanic *sparaz, from Proto-Indo-European *sph₁rós, from the root *speh₁-. Compare Dutch spaar(zaam), German spar(sam) and spär(lich), Swedish spar(sam), Icelandic sparr (“sparing”); also Latin (pro)sperus (“lucky”), Old Church Slavonic споръ (sporŭ, “plentiful”), Albanian shperr (“earn money”), Persian سپار (sepâr, “entrust; deposit”), Ancient Greek σπαρνός (sparnós, “rare”), Sanskrit स्फिर (sphirá, “thick”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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