Which to use
“cay” and “crag” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,168
- “cay” frequency rank
- #44,715
- “crag” frequency rank
- 84883
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cay | crag |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A small, low island largely made of sand or coral. | A rocky outcrop; a rugged steep cliff or rock. |
Where the eye mixes cay and crag
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. cay runs 3 letters (CVV) against crag's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cay with crag
A purely visual mix-up. cay (/kiː/) and crag (/kɹæɡ/) 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 84883, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cay is recorded at frequency rank #40,168, classified as anoun, pronounced /kiː/. crag is at rank #44,715, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹæɡ/.
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 84883, this pair ranks #11,306 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cay vs crag
Shared letters: ac. Private to "cay": y. Private to "crag": gr.
"cay" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "crag" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- crag ← ccrag · cragg · crga · crrag · rcag
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cay" for "crag" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cay" or "crag"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cay" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crag" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #11,306 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cay" and "crag" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crag vs Croat". 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 #11,306 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.