pevspreyWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“pe” and “prey” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,713
“pe” frequency rank
#49,873
“prey” frequency rank
56586
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pe prey
Definition Nombre de la letra p. Presa.

Where the eye mixes pe and prey

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

2 ch
pe
4 ch
prey

Visual trap between pe and prey

A purely visual mix-up. pe ([ˈpe]) and prey (/pɹeɪ/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56586, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pe is recorded at frequency rank #6,713, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpe]. 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 56586, this pair ranks #73,991 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pe vs prey

Shared letters: ep. Private to "pe": -. Private to "prey": ry.

"pe" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "prey" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • preypery · pprey · preyy · prrey · prye · rpey

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pe" and "prey" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpe] versus /pɹeɪ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pe" or "prey"?
"pe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,713 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.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #73,991 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pe" and "prey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "PRC vs prey". 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 #73,991 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