Which to use
“down” is an adverb and “downy” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #137
- “down” frequency rank
- #47,024
- “downy” frequency rank
- 47161
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | down | downy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | From a higher position to a lower one; downwards. | Having down, covered with a soft fuzzy coating as of small feathers or hair. |
Where the eye mixes down and downy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between down and downy
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: down is /daʊn/ while downy is /ˈdaʊni/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “down” sits inside “downy”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47161, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
down is recorded at frequency rank #137, classified as anadv, pronounced /daʊn/. downy is at rank #47,024, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈdaʊni/.
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 47161, this pair ranks #205,005 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of down vs downy
Shared letters: dnow. Private to "down": -. Private to "downy": y.
"down" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "downy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "down" and "downy" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "down" vs "downy" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "down" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "downy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #205,005 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "down" and "downy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Downie vs downy". 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 #205,005 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.