amivsAmyWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ami is a verb, Amy is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ami” is a verb and “Amy” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,537
“ami” frequency rank
#11,160
“Amy” frequency rank
26697
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ami Amy
Definition Amar, querer, gustar. Nombre de pila de mujer, equivalente del español Amada

Where the eye mixes ami and Amy

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
ami
3 ch
Amy

Why the eye confuses ami with Amy

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ami is [ˈa.mi] while Amy is /ˈeɪ.mi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “ami” becomes y in “Amy”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26697, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ami is recorded at frequency rank #15,537, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈa.mi]. Amy is at rank #11,160, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈeɪ.mi/.

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 26697, this pair ranks #230,398 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ami vs Amy

Shared letters: am. Private to "ami": i. Private to "Amy": y.

"ami" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "Amy" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ami" for "Amy" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ami" is a verb and "Amy" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "ami" or "Amy" show up more?
"Amy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,160 in our Spanish list, against #15,537 for "ami". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ami" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Amy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #230,398 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ami" and "Amy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ami vs apis". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #230,398 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list