Lay or ley?
lay is a verb meaning “To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position”; ley is a noun meaning “Arable land used temporarily for hay or grazing”. Use lay as a verb and ley as a noun (lay is also a noun: “Arrangement or relationship; layout”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) lay is about 46 times as common as ley.
What is the difference between lay and ley?
| lay | ley | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun, adjective | noun, adjective, suffix |
| Meaning | To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position To compel a supernatural entity to cease haunting a place, often by ritual or prayer; to exorcise or banish (a spirit or ghost) Arrangement or relationship; layout | Arable land used temporarily for hay or grazing A ley line Fallow; unseeded |
| Example | to lay a book on the table; to lay a body in the grave | none recorded |
| Forms | lays, laying, laid | leys |
| Pronunciation | /leɪ/ | /liː/ /leɪ/ |
| In writing | 44 times per million words | about once in every 1 million words |
Sources: lay and ley in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of lay and ley
lay
- 1
To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position
to lay a book on the table; to lay a body in the grave
- 2
Arrangement or relationship; layout
the lay of the land
- 3
A lake
- 4
Not belonging to the clergy, but associated with them
They seemed more lay than clerical
- 5
A ballad or sung poem; a short poem or narrative, usually intended to be sung
- 6
To don or put on (tefillin (phylacteries))
- 7
To compel a supernatural entity to cease haunting a place, often by ritual or prayer; to exorcise or banish (a spirit or ghost)
- 8
A share of the profits in a business
While the Pequod lay at Nantucket, Peleg put Ishmael down for the three hundredth lay
ley
- 1
Arable land used temporarily for hay or grazing
- 2
Fallow; unseeded
- 3
Alternative form of -leigh
- 4
A ley line
- 5
Rotated to pasture instead of cropping
- 6
Alternative spelling of lea
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, lay or ley?
lay appears 44 times per million words; ley about once in every 1 million words.
lay 44 times per million wordsley about once in every 1 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).