splitvsspoilWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“split” and “spoil” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#17,825
“split” frequency rank
#32,201
“spoil” frequency rank
50026
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature split spoil
Definition Album enregistré en commun par plusieurs groupes de musique. Fait de dévoiler à l’avance ou divulguer prématurément un élément clé de l’intrigue d’une œuvre de fiction.

Where the eye mixes split and spoil

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
split
5 ch
spoil

Look-alike desk: split vs spoil

A purely visual mix-up. split (\split\) and spoil (\spɔjl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50026, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

split is recorded at frequency rank #17,825, classified as anoun, pronounced \split\. spoil is at rank #32,201, tagged as anoun, pronounced \spɔjl\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 50026, this pair ranks #165,875 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of split vs spoil

Shared letters: ilps. Private to "split": t. Private to "spoil": o.

"split" · 5 letters · shape CCCVC  ·  "spoil" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • splitpslit · slpit · spilt · splitt · spllit · splti · spplit · ssplit
  • spoilpsoil · sopil · spiol · spoill · spoli · sppoil · sspoil

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "split" and "spoil" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\split\ versus \spɔjl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "split" or "spoil"?
"split" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,825 in our French list, against #32,201 for "spoil". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "split" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spoil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #165,875 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "split" and "spoil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spi vs spoil". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #165,875 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list