Which to use
“cord” is a noun and “cry” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,328
- “cord” frequency rank
- #2,525
- “cry” frequency rank
- 9853
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cord | cry |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A long, thin, flexible length of twisted yarns (strands) of fibre (a rope, for example). | To shed tears; to weep, especially in anger or sadness. |
Where the eye mixes cord and cry
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: cord vs cry
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cord is /kɔɹd/ while cry is /kɹaɪ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9853, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cord is recorded at frequency rank #7,328, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɔɹd/. cry is at rank #2,525, tagged as averb, pronounced /kɹaɪ/.
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 9853, this pair ranks #495,251 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cord vs cry
Shared letters: cr. Private to "cord": do. Private to "cry": y.
"cord" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "cry" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cord ← ccord · codr · cordd · corrd · crod · ocrd
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cord" and "cry" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "cord" or "cry" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cord" and "cry" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cord" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cry" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #495,251 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cord" and "cry" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coms vs cord". 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 #495,251 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.