Which to use
“enemy” and “envoy” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,038
- “enemy” frequency rank
- #15,399
- “envoy” frequency rank
- 17437
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | enemy | envoy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Someone who is hostile to, feels hatred towards, opposes the interests of, or intends injury to someone else. | A diplomatic agent of the second rank, next in status after an ambassador. |
Where the eye mixes enemy and envoy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: enemy vs envoy
A purely visual mix-up. enemy (/ˈɛn.ə.mi/) and envoy (/ˈɛn.vɔɪ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17437, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
enemy is recorded at frequency rank #2,038, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɛn.ə.mi/. envoy is at rank #15,399, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɛn.vɔɪ/.
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 17437, this pair ranks #451,431 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of enemy vs envoy
Shared letters: eny. Private to "enemy": m. Private to "envoy": ov.
"enemy" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "envoy" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "enemy" and "envoy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "enemy" vs "envoy" - 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 "enemy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "envoy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #451,431 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "enemy" and "envoy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Enos vs envoy". 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 #451,431 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.