spur
/spɜː/
"spur" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“spur” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #11,976 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #11,976
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A rigid implement, often roughly y-shaped, that is fixed to one's heel for the purpose of prodding a horse. Often worn by, and emblematic of, the cowboy or the knight.
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 | spur |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /spɜː/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #11,976 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “spur” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for spur is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /spɜː/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,976 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 19 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for spur, with forms such as "psur", "sppur", and "spru". 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, "su", "sun", "sub", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English spure, spore, from Old English spora, spura, from Proto-West Germanic *spurō, from Proto-Germanic *spurô, from Proto-Indo-European *sperH- (“to kick”). The correct English form is spur, spelled S-P-U-R.
Definition
- 1A rigid implement, often roughly y-shaped, that is fixed to one's heel for the purpose of prodding a horse. Often worn by, and emblematic of, the cowboy or the knight.
- 2A jab given with the spurs.
- 3Anything that inspires or motivates, as a spur does a horse.
- 4An appendage or spike pointing rearward, near the foot, for instance that of a rooster.
- 5Any protruding part connected at one end, for instance a highway that extends from another highway into a city.
- 6Roots, tree roots.
- 7A mountain that shoots from another mountain or range and extends some distance in a lateral direction, or at right angles.
- 8A spiked iron worn by seamen upon the bottom of the boot, to enable them to stand upon the carcass of a whale to strip off the blubber.
- 9A brace strengthening a post and some connected part, such as a rafter or crossbeam; a strut.
- 10The short wooden buttress of a post.
- 11A projection from the round base of a column, occupying the angle of a square plinth upon which the base rests, or bringing the bottom bed of the base to a nearly square form. It is generally carved in leafage.
- 12Ergotized rye or other grain.
- 13A wall in a fortification that crosses a part of a rampart and joins to an inner wall.
- 14A piece of timber fixed on the bilgeways before launching, having the upper ends bolted to the vessel's side.
- 15A curved piece of timber serving as a half to support the deck where a whole beam cannot be placed.
- 16A branch of a vein.
- 17A very short branch line of a railway line.
- 18A short branch road of a motorway, freeway or major road.
- 19A short thin side shoot from a branch, especially one that bears fruit or, in conifers, the shoots that bear the leaves.
Etymology
From Middle English spure, spore, from Old English spora, spura, from Proto-West Germanic *spurō, from Proto-Germanic *spurô, from Proto-Indo-European *sperH- (“to kick”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: psur,sppur,spru,spurr,sspur,supr
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of spur - 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.
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 "spur"?
What does "spur" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "spur"?
How do you pronounce "spur"?
What is the origin of the word "spur"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “spur”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-P-U-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /spɜː/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “su” - see the side-by-side comparison. spur vs su
- 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.