Which to use
“downy” and “drowsy” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,024
- “downy” frequency rank
- #36,116
- “drowsy” frequency rank
- 83140
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | downy | drowsy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having down, covered with a soft fuzzy coating as of small feathers or hair. | Inclined to drowse; heavy with sleepiness |
Where the eye mixes downy and drowsy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between downy and drowsy
A purely visual mix-up. downy (/ˈdaʊni/) and drowsy (/ˈdɹaʊzi/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83140, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
downy is recorded at frequency rank #47,024, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈdaʊni/. drowsy is at rank #36,116, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈdɹaʊzi/.
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 83140, this pair ranks #14,381 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of downy vs drowsy
Shared letters: dowy. Private to "downy": n. Private to "drowsy": rs.
"downy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "drowsy" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "downy" and "drowsy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "downy" or "drowsy"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "downy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "drowsy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #14,381 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "downy" and "drowsy" 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 #14,381 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.