spinvsspotConfusable pair

Which to use

“spin” and “spot” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#19,560
“spin” frequency rank
#19,856
“spot” frequency rank
39416
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spin spot
Definition aranha mancha

Letter map: spin vs spot

Shared letters muted; letters that set spin and spot apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
spin
4 ch
spot

Corpus notes: spin and spot

spin and spot are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39416, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spin is recorded at frequency rank #19,560, classified as anoun, pronounced /spɪn/ ouvir^(fonte ?). spot is at rank #19,856, tagged as anoun.

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 39416, this pair ranks #26,840 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of spin vs spot

Shared letters: ps. Private to "spin": in. Private to "spot": ot.

"spin" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "spot" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spinpsin · sipn · spinn · spni · sppin · sspin
  • spotpsot · sopt · spott · sppot · spto · sspot

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "spin" for "spot" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "spin" or "spot" show up more?
"spin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,560 in our Portuguese list, against #19,856 for "spot". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "spin" and "spot".

  • Full dictionary entry for "spin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #26,840 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spin" and "spot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "slip vs spin". 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 #26,840 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list