Sky or Skye?
sky is a noun meaning “The atmosphere above a given point, especially as visible from the surface of…”; Skye is a noun meaning “A Skye terrier”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) sky is about 23 times as common as Skye.
What is the difference between sky and Skye?
| sky | Skye | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb, suffix | noun |
| Meaning | The atmosphere above a given point, especially as visible from the surface of the Earth as the place where the sun, moon, stars, and clouds are seen With a descriptive word: the part of the sky which can be seen from a specific place or at a specific time; its climate, condition, etc informalTo drink (a beverage) from a container without one's lips touching the container | A Skye terrier |
| Example | That year, a meteor fell from the sky | none recorded |
| Forms | skies | skyes |
| Pronunciation | /skaɪ/ /-skiː/ /-ski/ | /skaɪ/ |
| In writing | 52 times per million words | 2.2 times per million words |
Sources: sky and Skye 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 sky and Skye
sky
- 1
The atmosphere above a given point, especially as visible from the surface of the Earth as the place where the sun, moon, stars, and clouds are seen
That year, a meteor fell from the sky
- 2
informalTo drink (a beverage) from a container without one's lips touching the container
- 3
Alternative spelling of -ski
- 4
Combined with a noun or adjective for a specific community of users or a genre of posts on the social media platform Bluesky
- 5
With a descriptive word: the part of the sky which can be seen from a specific place or at a specific time; its climate, condition, etc
I lay back under a warm Texas sky
- 6
datedinformalTo hang (a picture on exhibition) near the top of a wall, where it cannot easily be seen; (by extension) to put (something) in an undesirable place
- 7
Ellipsis of sky blue
- 8
datedslangTo toss (something) upwards; specifically, to flip (a coin)
Skye
- 1
A Skye terrier
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, sky or Skye?
sky appears 52 times per million words; Skye 2.2 times per million words.
sky 52 times per million wordsSkye 2.2 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).