Which to use
“foley” and “foray” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,946
- “foley” frequency rank
- #27,464
- “foray” frequency rank
- 42410
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foley | foray |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The creation of sound effects, and their addition to film and TV images. | A sudden or irregular incursion in border warfare; hence, any irregular incursion for war or spoils; a raid. |
Where the eye mixes foley and foray
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses foley with foray
A purely visual mix-up. foley (/ˈfoʊli/) and foray (/ˈfɒɹ.eɪ/) 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 42410, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foley is recorded at frequency rank #14,946, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfoʊli/. foray is at rank #27,464, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɒɹ.eɪ/.
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 42410, this pair ranks #249,474 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foley vs foray
Shared letters: foy. Private to "foley": el. Private to "foray": ar.
"foley" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "foray" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "foley" and "foray" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "foley" vs "foray" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "foley" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foray" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #249,474 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foley" and "foray" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fora vs foray". 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 #249,474 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.