Which to use
“clay” and “cry” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,254
- “clay” frequency rank
- #27,553
- “cry” frequency rank
- 48807
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clay | cry |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Arcilla. | Llanto |
Where the eye mixes clay and cry
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: clay vs cry
A purely visual mix-up. clay (/kleɪ/) and cry (/kɹaɪ̯/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48807, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clay is recorded at frequency rank #21,254, classified as anoun, pronounced /kleɪ/. cry is at rank #27,553, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹaɪ̯/.
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 48807, this pair ranks #112,416 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of clay vs cry
Shared letters: cy. Private to "clay": al. Private to "cry": r.
"clay" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "cry" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- clay ← caly · cclay · clayy · cllay · clya · lcay
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "clay" for "cry" ever safe?
Frequency check: "clay" vs "cry" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "clay" and "cry" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "clay" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cry" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #112,416 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clay" and "cry" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cry vs cuc". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #112,416 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.