pry
/pɹaɪ/
"pry" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pry” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #26,212 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #26,212
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To peer closely and curiously, especially at something closed or not public.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pry |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /pɹaɪ/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #26,212 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pry” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pry is 3 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pɹaɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #26,212 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No generated misspelling entries exist for pry in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "pt", "PS", "PU", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: The verb is inherited from Middle English prien, pryen (“to look closely, peer into, pry, spy”) [and other forms], from Old English *prīwan, *prēowian (“to look narrowly, to squint at”), attested by Old English beprīwan, beprēwan (“to wink”); further etymol… The correct English form is pry, spelled P-R-Y.
Definition
- 1To peer closely and curiously, especially at something closed or not public.
- 2To inquire into something that does not concern one; to be nosy; to snoop.
- 3To peer at (something) closely; also, to look into (a matter, etc.) thoroughly.
Etymology
The verb is inherited from Middle English prien, pryen (“to look closely, peer into, pry, spy”) [and other forms], from Old English *prīwan, *prēowian (“to look narrowly, to squint at”), attested by Old English beprīwan, beprēwan (“to wink”); further etymology unknown, but probably akin to Old English *prēowot (“closing of the eyes”), attested only in combination – compare prēowthwīl (“blink or twinkling of an eye, moment”), princ (“a wink”): see prink. The noun is derived from the verb.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “pry”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pɹaɪ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “pt” - see the side-by-side comparison. pry vs pt
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.