• Differentiating benign from malignant skeletal lesions of the spine can be challenging. • Utility of chemical shift MRI in characterising indeterminate spinal lesion is unreported. • This study demonstrates sensitivity 91.7 %, specificity 73.3 %, diagnostic accuracy 82.5 % for CSI. • CSI is useful in differentiating benign from malignant skeletal spine lesions. • Biopsy can potentially be avoided in some patients with benign skeletal lesions.