Which to use
“card” is a noun and “carry” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,840
- “card” frequency rank
- #38,021
- “carry” frequency rank
- 49861
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | card | carry |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Karte, auch Card | tragen |
Where the eye mixes card and carry
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses card with carry
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: card is [kɑːd] while carry is [ˈkæɹi]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49861, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
card is recorded at frequency rank #11,840, classified as anoun, pronounced [kɑːd]. carry is at rank #38,021, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkæɹi].
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 49861, this pair ranks #1,195,602 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of card vs carry
Shared letters: acr. Private to "card": d. Private to "carry": y.
"card" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "carry" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "card" and "carry" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "card" vs "carry" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "card" and "carry" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "card" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "carry" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,195,602 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "card" and "carry" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carr vs carry". 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 #1,195,602 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.