Which to use
“pox” is a noun and “proxy” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,674
- “pox” frequency rank
- #10,749
- “proxy” frequency rank
- 39423
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pox | proxy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A disease characterized by purulent skin eruptions that may leave pockmarks. | Used as a proxy or acting as a proxy. |
Where the eye mixes pox and proxy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between pox and proxy
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pox is /pɑks/ while proxy is /ˈpɹɒk.si/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39423, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pox is recorded at frequency rank #28,674, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɑks/. proxy is at rank #10,749, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɹɒk.si/.
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 39423, this pair ranks #276,836 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pox vs proxy
Shared letters: opx. Private to "pox": -. Private to "proxy": ry.
"pox" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "proxy" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- proxy ← porxy · pproxy · proxxy · proxyy · proyx · prroxy · prxoy · rpoxy
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pox" and "proxy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "pox" or "proxy" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pox" and "proxy" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pox" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "proxy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #276,836 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pox" and "proxy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pox vs PPA". 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 #276,836 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.