# paying vs prying

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### paying
*verb · IPA /ˈpeɪ.ɪŋ/ · frequency rank #1,834*
present participle and gerund of pay

### prying
*verb · IPA /ˈpɹaɪ.ɪŋ/ · frequency rank #34,239*
present participle and gerund of pry

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/paying-vs-prying