Which to use
“part” is a noun and “pry” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #162
- “part” frequency rank
- #26,212
- “pry” frequency rank
- 26374
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | part | pry |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A portion; a component. | To peer closely and curiously, especially at something closed or not public. |
Where the eye mixes part and pry
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: part is /pɑːt/ while pry is /pɹaɪ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26374, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
part is recorded at frequency rank #162, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɑːt/. pry is at rank #26,212, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɹaɪ/.
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 26374, this pair ranks #387,176 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of part vs pry
Shared letters: pr. Private to "part": at. Private to "pry": y.
"part" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "pry" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- part ← aprt · parrt · partt · patr · ppart