comervscoveyWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,438
“comer” frequency rank
#46,402
“covey” frequency rank
80840
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature comer covey
Definition One in a race who is catching up to others and shows promise of winning. A brood or family of partridges (family Phasianidae), which includes game birds such as grouse (tribe Tetraonini) and ptarmigans (tribe Tetraonini, genus Lagopus).

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set comer and covey apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
comer
5 ch
covey

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. comer (/ˈkʌmɚ/) and covey (/ˈkʌvi/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80840, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

comer is recorded at frequency rank #34,438, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkʌmɚ/. covey is at rank #46,402, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkʌvi/.

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 80840, this pair ranks #18,945 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of comer vs covey

Shared letters: ceo. Private to "comer": mr. Private to "covey": vy.

"comer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "covey" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • comerccomer · cmoer · coemr · comerr · commer · comre · ocmer
  • coveyccovey · coevy · coveyy · covvey · covye · cvoey · ocvey

Frequency comparison

comer#34,438
covey#46,402

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "comer" and "covey" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkʌmɚ/ versus /ˈkʌvi/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "comer" or "covey"?
"comer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,438 in our English list, against #46,402 for "covey". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering comer vs covey

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “comer” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list