scary
/ˈskɛə.ɹi/adjective, adverb, noun
scary is spelled S-C-A-R-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 23 times per million words in written English, the 3,814th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, scary means “Causing fear or anxiety” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in scary?
| Letters | 5: S-C-A-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 23 times per million words; the 3,814th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is scary?
Scary appears 23 times per million words in written English, the 3,814th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce scary?
- UK /ˈskɛə.ɹi/
- UK /ˈskɛː.ɹi/
- US /ˈskɛə.ɹi/
Scary has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-scary.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with scary
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: scarey.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with scary?
6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as scary from its last stressed vowel (/ɛəɹi/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: scray.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of scary
- scarier comparative
- scariest superlative
- scarey
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does scary mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
informalCausing fear or anxiety
The tiger's jaws were scary.
- 2
informalUncannily striking or surprising.
Linda changed her hair, and it’s scary how much she looks like her mother.
- 3
UScolloquialSubject to sudden alarm; easily frightened.
adverb
- 1
informalTo a scary extent; scarily.
noun
- 1
Barren land having only a thin coat of grass.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Scary in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense causing fear or anxiety:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | sinistre, terrifiant, affreux |
| German | schrecklich, furchterregend, beängstigend |
| Portuguese | assustador |
| Spanish | temible, espantoso, temeroso |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does scary come from?
From scare + -y.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).