Which to use
“scare” is a noun and “scary” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,413
- “scare” frequency rank
- #3,845
- “scary” frequency rank
- 10258
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scare | scary |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A minor fright. | Causing fear or anxiety |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set scare and scary apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
scare and scary form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by a single letter - e in “scare” becomes y in “scary” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10258, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
scare is recorded at frequency rank #6,413, classified as anoun, pronounced /skɛə/. scary is at rank #3,845, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈskɛə.ɹi/.
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 10258, this pair ranks #493,217 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "scare" and "scary" be used interchangeably?
Remembering scare vs scary
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “scare”; for an adjective, it's “scary”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “scare” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable