Which to use
“allergic” is an adjective and “allergy” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,845
- “allergic” frequency rank
- #12,905
- “allergy” frequency rank
- 22750
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | allergic | allergy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Of or pertaining to allergy. | A disorder of the immune system causing adverse reactions to substances (allergens) not harmful to most and marked by the body's production of histamines and associated with atopy, anaphylaxis, and asthma; any condition of hypersensitivity to a substance. |
Where the eye mixes allergic and allergy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. allergic runs 8 letters (VCCVCCVC) against allergy's 7 (VCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses allergic with allergy
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: allergic is /əˈlɜː.dʒɪk/ while allergy is /ˈæl.əɹ.d͡ʒi/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22750, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
allergic is recorded at frequency rank #9,845, classified as anadj, pronounced /əˈlɜː.dʒɪk/. allergy is at rank #12,905, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈæl.əɹ.d͡ʒi/.
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 22750, this pair ranks #414,290 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of allergic vs allergy
Shared letters: aeglr. Private to "allergic": ci. Private to "allergy": y.
"allergic" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "allergy" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "allergic" for "allergy" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "allergic" or "allergy" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "allergic" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "allergy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #414,290 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "allergic" and "allergy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "allergen vs allergy". 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 #414,290 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.