preyvspropWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#49,873
“prey” frequency rank
#41,564
“prop” frequency rank
91437
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prey prop
Definition Presa. Un objeto puesto contra o debajo de otro para soportarlo; cualquier cosa que soporta; soporte, sostén, puntal.

Where the eye mixes prey and prop

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

4 ch
prey
4 ch
prop

Why the eye confuses prey with prop

A purely visual mix-up. prey (/pɹeɪ/) and prop (/pɹɒp/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 91437, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prey is recorded at frequency rank #49,873, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɹeɪ/. prop is at rank #41,564, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɹɒp/.

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 91437, this pair ranks #1,985 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of prey vs prop

Shared letters: pr. Private to "prey": ey. Private to "prop": o.

"prey" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "prop" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • preypery · pprey · preyy · prrey · prye · rpey
  • propporp · pprop · propp · prpo · prrop · rpop

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "prey" and "prop" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/pɹeɪ/ versus /pɹɒp/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "prey" or "prop"?
"prop" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,564 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 "prey" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prop" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,985 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prey" and "prop" 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 #1,985 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