spoke

/spəʊk/

//spəʊk// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"spoke" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“spoke” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #2,465. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#2,465
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A support structure that connects the axle or the hub of a wheel to the rim.

Corpus desk

Index EN-spoke · spoke · English

spoke · rank #2,465 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,465
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH solo

Nearest frequency peer: solo (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “spoke”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “spoke” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

spoke vs spot
60% similar
spoke vs store
60% similar
spoke vs stone
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for spoke
PropertyValue
Headwordspoke
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/spəʊk/
Letters5
Frequency rank#2,465
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “spoke”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).spokelands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “solo” (#2,464), “stands” (#2,466), “sending” (#2,463). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “spoke” is #2,465. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around spoke (IPA /spəʊk/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #2,465 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for spoke, with forms such as "psoke", "sopke", and "spkoe". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "spot", "store", "stone", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English spoke, from Old English spāca, from Proto-West Germanic *spaikā, from Proto-Germanic *spaikǭ. Compare Scots spaik (“spoke”), Dutch spaak and English spike. The correct English form is spoke, spelled S-P-O-K-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A support structure that connects the axle or the hub of a wheel to the rim.
  2. 2
    A projecting handle of a steering wheel.
  3. 3
    A rung of a ladder.
  4. 4
    A stick inserted into the wheel of a vehicle to keep the wheel from turning.
  5. 5
    One of the outlying points in a hub-and-spoke model of transportation.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how spoke appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The wheels were at first copies of a light hand-cart wheel, the wood spokes were brought together by tapering the spoke ends and wedging them together at the nave or hub and inserting the other ends in slots in the felloe or wood rim.

Etymology

From Middle English spoke, from Old English spāca, from Proto-West Germanic *spaikā, from Proto-Germanic *spaikǭ. Compare Scots spaik (“spoke”), Dutch spaak and English spike.

This word in other languages

rayo(Español)rayon(Français)Speiche(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • psoke
  • sopke
  • spkoe
  • spoek
  • spokke
  • sppoke
  • sspoke

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of spoke - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

psoke2sopke2spkoe2spoek2spokke1sppoke1sspoke1
Edit distance from "spoke"

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 "spoke"?
"spoke" is spelled S-P-O-K-E. The IPA pronunciation is /spəʊk/.
What does "spoke" mean?
As a noun, "spoke" means: A support structure that connects the axle or the hub of a wheel to the rim.
What words are commonly confused with "spoke"?
"spoke" is commonly confused with "spot", "store", "stone". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "spoke"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "spoke" is /spəʊk/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "spoke"?
From Middle English spoke, from Old English spāca, from Proto-West Germanic *spaikā, from Proto-Germanic *spaikǭ. Compare Scots spaik (“spoke”), Dutch spaak and English spike. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "spoke", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

talks#2,467upset#2,470birds#2,474cycle#2,477

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

scared7 variantsWales7 variantsaffect7 variantsarmed7 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list