Pray or prey?
pray is a verb meaning “To direct words, thoughts, or one's attention to a deity or any higher being…”; prey is a noun meaning “That which is or may be seized by animals to be devoured”. Use pray as a verb and prey as a noun (prey is also a verb: “To act as a predator”). They sound the same (/pɹeɪ/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) pray is about 2.6 times as common as prey.
What is the difference between pray and prey?
| pray | prey | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, adverb | noun, verb |
| Meaning | To direct words, thoughts, or one's attention to a deity or any higher being, for the sake of adoration, thanks, petition for help, etc To humbly beg a person for aid or their time | That which is or may be seized by animals to be devoured A person or thing given up as a victim To act as a predator |
| Example | Muslims pray in the direction of Mecca | The deer became prey to the lion |
| Forms | prays, praying, prayed | preys |
| Pronunciation | /pɹeɪ/ | /pɹeɪ/ |
| In writing | 25 times per million words | 9.5 times per million words |
Sources: pray and prey 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 pray and prey
pray
- 1
To direct words, thoughts, or one's attention to a deity or any higher being, for the sake of adoration, thanks, petition for help, etc
Muslims pray in the direction of Mecca
- 2
Alternative form of pray tell (“I ask you”)
- 3
To humbly beg a person for aid or their time
- 4
To wish or hope strongly for a particular outcome
She is praying that the Red Sox will win tonight
prey
- 1
That which is or may be seized by animals to be devoured
The deer became prey to the lion
- 2
To act as a predator
- 3
A person or thing given up as a victim
- 4
A living thing, usually an animal, that is eaten by another living thing
The rabbit was eaten by the coyote, so the rabbit is the coyote's prey
- 5
The victim of a disease
He became the prey of dengue
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, pray or prey?
pray appears 25 times per million words; prey 9.5 times per million words.
pray 25 times per million wordsprey 9.5 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search pray vs prey?
“pray vs prey” is searched about 1,300 times a month on Google and 30 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“prey vs pray”, “pray or prey”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.