AndrewvsAndreyWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Andrew” and “Andrey” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,610
“Andrew” frequency rank
#36,037
“Andrey” frequency rank
38647
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Andrew Andrey
Definition A male given name from Ancient Greek. A transliteration of the Russian male given name Андре́й (Andréj), equivalent to Andrew.

Letter map: Andrew vs Andrey

Shared letters muted; letters that set Andrew and Andrey apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. Andrew (VCCCVC) and Andrey (VCCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
Andrew
6 ch
Andrey

Pair insight - Andrew / Andrey

Andrew and Andrey are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - w in “Andrew” becomes y in “Andrey”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38647, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Andrew is recorded at frequency rank #2,610, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈæn.dɹuː/. Andrey is at rank #36,037, tagged as aname.

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 38647, this pair ranks #284,067 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Andrew vs Andrey

Shared letters: adenr. Private to "Andrew": w. Private to "Andrey": y.

"Andrew" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC  ·  "Andrey" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Andrew ← adnrew · anddrew · anderw · andreww · andrrew · andrwe · anndrew · anrdew
  • Andrey ← adnrey · anddrey · andery · andreyy · andrrey · andrye · anndrey · anrdey

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Andrew" for "Andrey" ever safe?
No. They differ by a single letter - w in “Andrew” becomes y in “Andrey”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "Andrew" vs "Andrey" - which ranks higher?
"Andrew" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,610 in our English list, against #36,037 for "Andrey". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Andrew" and "Andrey".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Andrew" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Andrey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #284,067 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Andrew" and "Andrey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Andres vs Andrey". 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 #284,067 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list