Which to use
“surly” is an adjective and “survey” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,102
- “surly” frequency rank
- #2,091
- “survey” frequency rank
- 37193
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | surly | survey |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly. | The act of surveying; a general view. |
Where the eye mixes surly and survey
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. surly runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against survey's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses surly with survey
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: surly is /ˈsɜːli/ while survey is /ˈsɜːveɪ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37193, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
surly is recorded at frequency rank #35,102, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈsɜːli/. 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 37193, this pair ranks #296,621 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of surly vs survey
Shared letters: rsuy. Private to "surly": l. Private to "survey": ev.
"surly" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "survey" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "surly" and "survey" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "surly" or "survey" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "surly" 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 #296,621 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "surly" and "survey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sura vs surly". 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 #296,621 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.