Which to use
“praise” is a noun and “prays” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,259
- “praise” frequency rank
- #25,538
- “prays” frequency rank
- 29797
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | praise | prays |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Commendation; favourable representation in words. | third-person singular simple present indicative of pray |
Same sound, different letters: praise vs prays
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. praise runs 6 letters (CCVVCV) against prays's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: praise vs prays
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: praise and prays carry the same recorded pronunciation, /pɹeɪz/. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29797, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
praise is recorded at frequency rank #4,259, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɹeɪz/. prays is at rank #25,538, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɹeɪz/.
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 29797, this pair ranks #359,929 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of praise vs prays
Shared letters: aprs. Private to "praise": ei. Private to "prays": y.
"praise" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV · "prays" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "praise" and "prays" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "praise" or "prays" show up more?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "praise" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prays" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #359,929 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "praise" and "prays" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prat vs prays". 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 #359,929 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.