English homophones

pray/prey

"pray" is a verb; "prey" is a noun - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.

Data vintage 2026-09-03

Grammar picks the spelling

Same sound, different grammar: "pray" arrives as a verb, while "prey" is a noun. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.

Shared letters across pray, prey: pry. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

Write "pray" when you mean: To direct words, thoughts, or one's attention to a deity or any higher being, for the sake of adoration, thanks, petition for help, etc.
Write "prey" when you mean: That which is or may be seized by animals to be devoured.

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

verb · /pɹeɪ/ · #3,648 frequency

To direct words, thoughts, or one's attention to a deity or any higher being, for the sake of adoration, thanks, petition for help, etc.

noun · /pɹeɪ/ · #7,377 frequency

That which is or may be seized by animals to be devoured.

What to do next

You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (pray, prey). Here's where to go from here.

"pray" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #3,648 in English). Full entry
Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: pits · Pitts. Nearby cluster
Grammar often disambiguates this cluster, match the meaning to the part of speech before picking a spelling. Pick by meaning

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.