Which to use
“spot” and “spy” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,587
- “spot” frequency rank
- #37,565
- “spy” frequency rank
- 48152
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spot | spy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Site particulièrement favorable, par exemple pour exercer un sport de plein air, plus particulièrement un sport de glisse, ou dans le cadre d’une discipline scientifique, etc. | Espion. |
Where the eye mixes spot and spy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses spot with spy
A purely visual mix-up. spot (\spɔt\) and spy (\spaɪ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48152, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spot is recorded at frequency rank #10,587, classified as anoun, pronounced \spɔt\. spy is at rank #37,565, tagged as anoun, pronounced \spaɪ\.
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 48152, this pair ranks #181,224 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of spot vs spy
Shared letters: ps. Private to "spot": ot. Private to "spy": y.
"spot" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "spy" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- spot ← sopt · spott · sppot · spto · sspot
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "spot" for "spy" ever safe?
Frequency check: "spot" vs "spy" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "spot" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #181,224 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spot" and "spy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spy vs suu". 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 #181,224 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.