Which to use
“spoil” and “spots” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,201
- “spoil” frequency rank
- #19,161
- “spots” frequency rank
- 51362
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spoil | spots |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fait de dévoiler à l’avance ou divulguer prématurément un élément clé de l’intrigue d’une œuvre de fiction. | Pluriel de spot. |
Where the eye mixes spoil and spots
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. spoil (CCVVC) and spots (CCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: spoil vs spots
A purely visual mix-up. spoil (\spɔjl\) and spots (\spɔt\) 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 51362, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spoil is recorded at frequency rank #32,201, classified as anoun, pronounced \spɔjl\. spots is at rank #19,161, tagged as anoun, pronounced \spɔt\.
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 51362, this pair ranks #155,605 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of spoil vs spots
Shared letters: ops. Private to "spoil": il. Private to "spots": t.
"spoil" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "spots" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "spoil" and "spots" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "spoil" vs "spots" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "spoil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spots" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #155,605 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spoil" and "spots" 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 #155,605 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.