# spectrometer vs spectrometry

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### spectrometer
*noun · IPA /spɛkˈtɹɒm.ɪ.tə/ · frequency rank #33,429*
An optical instrument for measuring the absorption of light by chemical substances; typically it will plot a graph of absorption versus wavelength or frequency, and the patterns produced are used to identify the substances present, and their internal structure.

### spectrometry
*noun · frequency rank #30,601*
The measurement of the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation, especially any of several techniques used to analyze the structure of molecules; the measurement of spectra of things other than radiation, such as the masses of molecules and their breakdown products

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spectrometer-vs-spectrometry