# bribe vs bribery

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### bribe
*noun · IPA /bɹaɪb/ · frequency rank #14,904*
Something (usually money) given in exchange for influence or as an inducement to breaking the law.

### bribery
*noun · IPA /ˈbɹaɪbəɹi/ · frequency rank #17,091*
The act of giving an illegal payment (a bribe) to a person in an official position as a means of influencing their decisions.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bribe-vs-bribery