paresvspreyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pares is a adjective, prey is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pares” is an adjective and “prey” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,645
“pares” frequency rank
#49,873
“prey” frequency rank
55518
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pares prey
Definition Forma del plural de par. Presa.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pares and prey apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
pares
4 ch
prey

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pares is [ˈpaɾes] while prey is /pɹeɪ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55518, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pares is recorded at frequency rank #5,645, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈpaɾes]. prey is at rank #49,873, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɹeɪ/.

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 55518, this pair ranks #78,507 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pares vs prey

Shared letters: epr. Private to "pares": as. Private to "prey": y.

"pares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "prey" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paresapres · paers · paress · parres · parse · ppares · praes
  • preypery · pprey · preyy · prrey · prye · rpey

Frequency comparison

pares#5,645
prey#49,873

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pares" and "prey" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pares" is an adjective and "prey" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pares" or "prey"?
"pares" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,645 in our Spanish list, against #49,873 for "prey". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pares vs prey

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “pares”; for a noun, it's “prey”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pares” 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