spite
/spaɪt/
"spite" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“spite” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,741 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #6,741
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Ill will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the desire to unjustifiably irritate, annoy, or thwart; a want to disturb or put out another; mild malice
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | spite |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /spaɪt/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #6,741 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “spite” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for spite is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /spaɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,741 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for spite, with forms such as "psite", "sipte", and "spiet". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "spot", "suit", "state", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English spit, a shortening of despit (whence despite), from Old French despit, from Latin dēspectum (“looking down on”), from Latin dēspiciō (“to look down, despise”). Compare also North Frisian spīt, spīd (“regret”), Saterland Frisian Spiet (“r… The correct English form is spite, spelled S-P-I-T-E.
Definition
- 1Ill will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the desire to unjustifiably irritate, annoy, or thwart; a want to disturb or put out another; mild malice
- 2Vexation; chagrin; mortification.
Etymology
From Middle English spit, a shortening of despit (whence despite), from Old French despit, from Latin dēspectum (“looking down on”), from Latin dēspiciō (“to look down, despise”). Compare also North Frisian spīt, spīd (“regret”), Saterland Frisian Spiet (“regret, remorse”), West Frisian spyt (“regret”), Dutch spijt (“regret, remorse”), German Low German Spiet (“anger, regret, remorse”), German Spiet (“annoyance, vexation”), Swedish spit (“insult, outrage, annoyance”), Norwegian spit (“insult, outrage, annoyance”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: psite,sipte,spiet,spitte,sppite,sptie,sspite
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of spite - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "spite"?
What does "spite" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "spite"?
How do you pronounce "spite"?
What is the origin of the word "spite"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “spite”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-P-I-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /spaɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “spot” - see the side-by-side comparison. spite vs spot
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.