sprit

/spɹɪt/

//spɹɪt// noun

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

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

The verdict

“sprit” is uncommon English (frequency #92,101 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#92,101
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A spar between mast and upper outer corner of a spritsail on sailing boats.

Corpus desk

Index EN-sprit · sprit · English

sprit · rank #92,101 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #92,101
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH spinosaurus

Nearest frequency peer: spinosaurus (-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.

Long-tail ranks near “sprit”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “sprit” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for sprit
PropertyValue
Headwordsprit
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/spɹɪt/
Letters5
Frequency rank#92,101
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “sprit” in English

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).spritfalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “spinosaurus” (#92,100), “Spetsnaz” (#92,099), “spellcheck” (#92,098). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “sprit” is #92,101. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

sprit is uncommon English at frequency #92,101 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /spɹɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for sprit, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sprete, from Old English sprēot (“pole, pike, spear”), from Proto-Germanic *spreut, related to Proto-West Germanic *sprutō (“shoot, sprout”). Cognate with West Frisian spriet (“sprit, spoke”), Dutch spriet (“a sprit, blade, spar, shoot, … The correct English form is sprit, spelled S-P-R-I-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    A spar between mast and upper outer corner of a spritsail on sailing boats.
  2. 2
    A shoot; a sprout.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. ... and in the luminous space the tanned sails of the barges drifting up with the tide seemed to stand still in red clusters of canvas sharply peaked, with gleams of varnished sprits.
  2. the Maltſter will ſtir his Barley Couches till the Sprit begins to fork , five or ſix times a day or more ; it being always his Care to keep them from drying too much on the outſides

Etymology

From Middle English sprete, from Old English sprēot (“pole, pike, spear”), from Proto-Germanic *spreut, related to Proto-West Germanic *sprutō (“shoot, sprout”). Cognate with West Frisian spriet (“sprit, spoke”), Dutch spriet (“a sprit, blade, spar, shoot, sprig”), Middle High German spriez (“sprout, twig”).

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 "sprit"?
"sprit" is spelled S-P-R-I-T. The IPA pronunciation is /spɹɪt/.
What does "sprit" mean?
As a noun, "sprit" means: A spar between mast and upper outer corner of a spritsail on sailing boats.
How do you pronounce "sprit"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sprit" is /spɹɪt/. 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 "sprit"?
From Middle English sprete, from Old English sprēot (“pole, pike, spear”), from Proto-Germanic *spreut, related to Proto-West Germanic *sprutō (“shoot, sprout”). Cognate with West Frisian spriet (“sprit, spoke”), Dutch spriet (“a sprit, blade, spa... 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 "sprit", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Stevo#92,106tache#92,131Shema#92,061Thapa#92,145

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list