carryvscurryWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: carry is a verb, curry is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“carry” is a verb and “curry” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,237
“carry” frequency rank
#18,211
“curry” frequency rank
59448
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature carry curry
Definition Llevar, transportar. Grafía alternativa de curri.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set carry and curry apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
carry
5 ch
curry

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: carry is /ˈkæɹ.ɪ/ while curry is [ˈkuri]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “carry” becomes u in “curry”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59448, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

carry is recorded at frequency rank #41,237, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈkæɹ.ɪ/. curry is at rank #18,211, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkuri].

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 59448, this pair ranks #62,575 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of carry vs curry

Shared letters: cry. Private to "carry": a. Private to "curry": u.

"carry" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "curry" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • carryacrry · carryy · cary · caryr · ccarry · crary
  • curryccurry · crury · curryy · cury · curyr · ucrry

Frequency comparison

carry#41,237
curry#18,211

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "carry" and "curry" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "carry" is a verb and "curry" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "carry" or "curry"?
"curry" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,211 in our Spanish list, against #41,237 for "carry". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering carry vs curry

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “carry”; for a noun, it's “curry”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “carry” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list