# spy vs STR

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### spy
*noun · IPA /spaɪ/ · frequency rank #4,799*
A person who secretly watches and examines the actions of other individuals or organizations and gathers information on them (usually to gain an advantage).

### STR
*noun · frequency rank #20,507*
Initialism of short tandem repeat.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-09-03.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spy-vs-str