Which to use
“angry” is an adjective and “annoy” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,191
- “angry” frequency rank
- #15,747
- “annoy” frequency rank
- 17938
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | angry | annoy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Displaying or feeling anger. | To disturb or irritate, especially by continued or repeated acts; to bother with unpleasant deeds. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set angry and annoy apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: angry is /ˈæŋ.ɡɹi/ while annoy is /əˈnɔɪ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17938, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
angry is recorded at frequency rank #2,191, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈæŋ.ɡɹi/. annoy is at rank #15,747, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈnɔɪ/.
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 17938, this pair ranks #448,197 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of angry vs annoy
Shared letters: any. Private to "angry": gr. Private to "annoy": o.
"angry" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV · "annoy" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "angry" and "annoy" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "angry" or "annoy"?
Remembering angry vs annoy
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “angry”; for a verb, it's “annoy”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “angry” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable