Which to use
“scurvy” is an adjective and “survey” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,435
- “scurvy” frequency rank
- #2,091
- “survey” frequency rank
- 42526
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scurvy | survey |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Affected or covered with scurf (“skin disease causing flakes of skin to fall off”) or scabs; scurfy, scabby; also, of or relating to a skin disease causing scurf or to scurvy (noun noun sense 1). | The act of surveying; a general view. |
Where the eye mixes scurvy and survey
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. scurvy (CCVCCV) and survey (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between scurvy and survey
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: scurvy is /ˈskɜːvi/ while survey is /ˈsɜːveɪ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42526, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
scurvy is recorded at frequency rank #40,435, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈskɜːvi/. survey is at rank #2,091, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɜːveɪ/.
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 42526, this pair ranks #248,376 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of scurvy vs survey
Shared letters: rsuvy. Private to "scurvy": c. Private to "survey": e.
"scurvy" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "survey" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "scurvy" for "survey" ever safe?
Which is more common, "scurvy" or "survey"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "scurvy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "survey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #248,376 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "scurvy" and "survey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scurry vs scurvy". 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 #248,376 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.