DaveyvsdayWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Davey is a name, day is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Davey” is a name and “day” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,534
“Davey” frequency rank
#120
“day” frequency rank
18654
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Davey day
Definition A diminutive of the male given name David. The time when the Sun is above the horizon and it lights the sky.

Where the eye mixes Davey and day

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Davey
3 ch
day

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Davey is /ˈdeɪvi/ while day is /deɪ̯/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18654, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Davey is recorded at frequency rank #18,534, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈdeɪvi/. day is at rank #120, tagged as anoun, pronounced /deɪ̯/.

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 18654, this pair ranks #443,437 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Davey vs day

Shared letters: ady. Private to "Davey": ev. Private to "day": -.

"Davey" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "day" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Daveyadvey · daevy · daveyy · davvey · davye · ddavey · dvaey

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Davey" and "day" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Davey" is a name and "day" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Davey" or "day"?
"day" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #120 in our English list, against #18,534 for "Davey". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list