rey
[ˈrej]
The verdict
“rey” is in the everyday core of Spanish, ranked #492 in Spanish word frequency and used as a noun.
- #492
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Monarca soberano de un reino.
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 | rey |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ˈrej] |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #492 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “rey” sits in Spanish frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Spanish entry for rey is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈrej]. Corpus data places it at rank #492 in overall Spanish word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Zero misspellings are on record for rey in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ro", "rr", "RM", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Spanish form is rey, spelled R-E-Y.
Definition
- 1Monarca soberano de un reino.
- 2(♔, ♚) Trebejo del ajedrez, de movimiento limitado pero máximo valor, puesto que la imposibilidad de defenderlo acarrea la derrota.
- 3Naipe que lleva la figura de un rey₁, que vale 12 en la baraja española y 13 en la francesa.
- 4Persona o cosa de máxima calidad o importancia en algún aspecto.
- 5Persona que, en algunos juegos o celebraciones, desempeña el papel rector.
- 6Úsase como vocativo afectuoso.
- 7Antiguo paso de las danzas españolas^([definición imprecisa]).
- 8Persona que tiene por oficio o profesión cuidar cerdos.
- 9Entre algunas especies de insectos sociales, única hembra fecunda de la comunidad.
- 10(Gallus gallus) Macho de la gallina, de distintivo dimorfismo sexual que incluye una cresta roja en la cabeza y espolones en las patas.
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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “rey”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is R-E-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈrej] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “ro” - see the side-by-side comparison. rey vs ro
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish 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.