Which to use
“deaf” is an adjective and “dey” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,214
- “deaf” frequency rank
- #26,753
- “dey” frequency rank
- 33967
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deaf | dey |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Unable (or partially able) to hear. | A servant who has charge of the dairy; a dairymaid. |
Where the eye mixes deaf and dey
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deaf is /dɛf/ while dey is /deɪ/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33967, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
deaf is recorded at frequency rank #7,214, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɛf/. dey is at rank #26,753, tagged as anoun, pronounced /deɪ/.
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 33967, this pair ranks #324,826 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of deaf vs dey
Shared letters: de. Private to "deaf": af. Private to "dey": y.
"deaf" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "dey" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- deaf ← daef · ddeaf · deaff · defa · edaf