Which to use
“boy” and “buys” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #688
- “boy” frequency rank
- #7,892
- “buys” frequency rank
- 8580
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | boy | buys |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A male child. | plural of buy |
Where the eye mixes boy and buys
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between boy and buys
A purely visual mix-up. boy (/bɔɪ/) and buys (/baɪz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8580, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
boy is recorded at frequency rank #688, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɔɪ/. buys is at rank #7,892, tagged as anoun, pronounced /baɪz/.
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 8580, this pair ranks #501,803 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of boy vs buys
Shared letters: by. Private to "boy": o. Private to "buys": su.
"boy" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "buys" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- buys ← bbuys · buyss · buyys · byus · ubys
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "boy" for "buys" ever safe?
Which is more common, "boy" or "buys"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "boy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "buys" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #501,803 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "boy" and "buys" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "BFS vs buys". 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 #501,803 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.