Prophecy or prophesy?
prophecy is a noun meaning “A prediction, especially one made by a prophet or under divine inspiration”; prophesy is a verb meaning “To speak or write with divine inspiration; to act as prophet”. Use prophecy as a noun and prophesy as a verb. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) prophecy is about 11 times as common as prophesy.
What is the difference between prophecy and prophesy?
| prophecy | prophesy | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | verb |
| Meaning | A prediction, especially one made by a prophet or under divine inspiration The public interpretation of Scripture | To speak or write with divine inspiration; to act as prophet To predict, to foretell (with or without divine inspiration) |
| Example | French writer Nostradamus made a prophecy in his book | No, but when the Spirit fils The fantastick Pannicles: Full of fier; then I write |
| Forms | prophecies | prophesies, prophesying, prophesied |
| Pronunciation | /ˈpɹɒfɪsi/ /ˈpɹɑfɪsi/ | /ˈpɹɒfɪsaɪ/ /ˈpɹɑfɪsaɪ/ |
| In writing | 5.1 times per million words | about once in every 2 million words |
Sources: prophecy and prophesy 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 prophecy and prophesy
prophecy
- 1
A prediction, especially one made by a prophet or under divine inspiration
French writer Nostradamus made a prophecy in his book
- 2
datedAlternative form of prophesy
The manipulation of these tremendous beneficent energies helped the world so well that the vast majority of these prophecied catastrophies did not happen
- 3
The public interpretation of Scripture
prophesy
- 1
To speak or write with divine inspiration; to act as prophet
No, but when the Spirit fils The fantastick Pannicles: Full of fier; then I write
- 2
To predict, to foretell (with or without divine inspiration)
- 3
To foreshow; to herald; to prefigure
- 4
To speak out on the Bible as an expression of holy inspiration; to preach
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, prophecy or prophesy?
prophecy appears 5.1 times per million words; prophesy about once in every 2 million words.
prophecy 5.1 times per million wordsprophesy about once in every 2 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 prophecy vs prophesy?
“prophecy vs prophesy” is searched about 1,300 times a month on Google and 50 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“prophesy vs prophecy”, “prophecy or prophesy”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.