Period vs. Spell — What's the Difference?

An interval of time characterized by the occurrence of a certain condition, event, or phenomenon

To name or write in order the letters constituting (a word).

An interval of time characterized by the prevalence of a specified culture, ideology, or technology

To constitute the letters of (a word)

An interval regarded as a distinct evolutionary or developmental phase

To add up to; signify

(Geology) A unit of time, longer than an epoch and shorter than an era.

To name or write in order the letters of a word or words

Any of the divisions of the academic day.

To put (someone) under a spell; bewitch.

Sports & Games A division of the playing time of a game.

To relieve (someone) from work temporarily by taking a turn.

Physics & Astronomy The time interval between two successive occurrences of a recurrent event or phases of an event; a cycle

To allow (someone) to rest a while.

See menstrual period.

To take turns working.

A point or portion of time at which something is ended; a completion or conclusion.

(Australian) To rest for a time from an activity.

A punctuation mark ( . ) indicating a full stop, placed at the end of declarative sentences and other statements thought to be complete, and after many abbreviations.

A word or formula believed to have magic power.

The full pause at the end of a spoken sentence.

A bewitched state or trance

A sentence of several carefully balanced clauses in formal writing.

A compelling attraction; charm or fascination

A metrical unit of quantitative verse consisting of two or more cola.

A short, indefinite period of time.

An analogous unit or division of classical Greek or Latin prose.

(Informal) A period of weather of a particular kind

(Music) A group of two or more phrases within a composition, often made up of 8 or 16 measures and terminating with a cadence.

One's turn at work.

The least interval in the range of the independent variable of a periodic function of a real variable in which all possible values of the dependent variable are assumed.

A period of work; a shift.

A group of digits separated by commas in a written number.

(Australian) A period of rest.

The number of digits that repeat in a repeating decimal. For example, 1/7 = 0.142857142857 ... has a six-digit period.

(Informal) A period of physical or mental disorder or distress

(Chemistry) A sequence of elements arranged in order of increasing atomic number and forming one of the horizontal rows in the periodic table.

(Informal) A short distance.

Of, belonging to, or representing a certain historical age or time

Words or a formula supposed to have magical powers.

Used to emphasize finality, as when expressing a decision or an opinion

A magical effect or influence induced by an incantation or formula.

A length of time.

(obsolete) Speech, discourse.

A period of time in history seen as a single coherent entity; an epoch, era.

A shift (of work); (rare) a set of workers responsible for a specific turn of labour.

The punctuation mark “.” (indicating the ending of a sentence or marking an abbreviation).

(informal) A definite period (of work or other activity).

(figurative) A decisive end to something; a stop.

(colloquial) An indefinite period of time (usually with a qualifier); by extension, a relatively short distance.

The length of time during which the same characteristics of a periodic phenomenon recur, such as the repetition of a wave or the rotation of a planet.

A period of rest; time off.

(euphemism) Female menstruation; an episode of this.

A period of illness, or sudden interval of bad spirits, disease etc.

A section of an artist's, writer's (etc.) career distinguished by a given quality, preoccupation etc.

(cricket) An uninterrupted series of alternate overs bowled by a single bowler.

Each of the divisions into which a school day is split, allocated to a given subject or activity.

(dialectal) A splinter, usually of wood; a spelk.

Each of the intervals, typically three, of which a game is divided.

The wooden bat in the game of trap ball, or knurr and spell.

One or more additional intervals to decide a tied game, an overtime period.

To put under the influence of a spell; to affect by a spell; to bewitch; to fascinate; to charm.

The length of time for a disease to run its course.

To read (something) as though letter by letter; to peruse slowly or with effort.

An end or conclusion; the final point of a process etc.

To write or say the letters that form a word or part of a word.

(rhetoric) A complete sentence, especially one expressing a single thought or making a balanced, rhythmic whole.

(intransitive) To be able to write or say the letters that form words.

(obsolete) A specific moment during a given process; a point, a stage.

(transitive) Of letters: to compose (a word).

(chemistry) A row in the periodic table of the elements.

To clarify; to explain in detail.

(geology) A geochronologic unit of millions to tens of millions of years; a subdivision of an era, and subdivided into epochs.

(transitive) To indicate that (some event) will occur.

(genetics) A Drosophila gene, the gene product of which is involved in regulation of the circadian rhythm.

To constitute; to measure.

(music) Two phrases (an antecedent and a consequent phrase).

(obsolete) To speak, to declaim.

(math) The length of an interval over which a periodic function, periodic sequence or repeating decimal repeats; often the least such length.

(obsolete) To tell; to relate; to teach.

(archaic) End point, conclusion.

(transitive) To work in place of (someone).

Designating anything from a given historical era. en

(transitive) To rest (someone or something), to give someone or something a rest or break.

Evoking, or appropriate for, a particular historical period, especially through the use of elaborate costumes and scenery.

To rest from work for a time.

That's final; that's the end of the matter (analogous to a period ending a sentence); end of story.

A spelk, or splinter.

To come to a period; to conclude.

The relief of one person by another in any piece of work or watching; also, a turn at work which is carried on by one person or gang relieving another; as, a spell at the pumps; a spell at the masthead.

To put an end to.

The time during which one person or gang works until relieved; hence, any relatively short period of time, whether a few hours, days, or weeks.

A portion of time as limited and determined by some recurring phenomenon, as by the completion of a revolution of one of the heavenly bodies; a division of time, as a series of years, months, or days, in which something is completed, and ready to recommence and go on in the same order; as, the period of the sun, or the earth, or a comet.

One of two or more persons or gangs who work by spells.

A stated and recurring interval of time; more generally, an interval of time specified or left indefinite; a certain series of years, months, days, or the like; a time; a cycle; an age; an epoch; as, the period of the Roman republic.

A gratuitous helping forward of another's work; as, a logging spell.

One of the great divisions of geological time; as, the Tertiary period; the Glacial period. See the Chart of Geology.

A story; a tale.

The termination or completion of a revolution, cycle, series of events, single event, or act; hence, a limit; a bound; an end; a conclusion.

A stanza, verse, or phrase supposed to be endowed with magical power; an incantation; hence, any charm.

A complete sentence, from one full stop to another; esp., a well-proportioned, harmonious sentence.

To supply the place of for a time; to take the turn of, at work; to relieve; as, to spell the helmsman.

The punctuation point [.] that marks the end of a complete sentence, or of an abbreviated word.

To tell; to relate; to teach.

One of several similar sets of figures or terms usually marked by points or commas placed at regular intervals, as in numeration, in the extraction of roots, and in circulating decimals.

To put under the influence of a spell; to affect by a spell; to bewitch; to fascinate; to charm.

The time of the exacerbation and remission of a disease, or of the paroxysm and intermission.

To constitute; to measure.

A complete musical sentence.

To tell or name in their proper order letters of, as a word; to write or print in order the letters of, esp. the proper letters; to form, as words, by correct orthography.

To put an end to.

To discover by characters or marks; to read with difficulty; - usually with out; as, to spell out the sense of an author; to spell out a verse in the Bible.

To come to a period; to conclude. [Obs.] "You may period upon this, that," etc.

To form words with letters, esp. with the proper letters, either orally or in writing.

An amount of time;

To study by noting characters; to gain knowledge or learn the meaning of anything, by study.

One of three periods of play in hockey games

A psychological state induced by (or as if induced by) a magical incantation

A stage in the history of a culture having a definable place in space and time;

A time for working (after which you will be relieved by someone else);

The interval taken to complete one cycle of a regularly repeating phenomenon

A period of indeterminate length (usually short) marked by some action or condition;

The monthly discharge of blood from the uterus of nonpregnant women from puberty to menopause;

A verbal formula believed to have magical force;

A punctuation mark (.) placed at the end of a declarative sentence to indicate a full stop or after abbreviations;

Recite the letters of or give the spelling of;

A unit of geological time during which a system of rocks formed;

Indicate or signify;

The end or completion of something;

Write or name the letters that comprise the conventionally accepted form of (a word or part of a word);

Place under a spell