Which to use
“spy” and “stay” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,092
- “spy” frequency rank
- #27,786
- “stay” frequency rank
- 75878
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spy | stay |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Espía. | Parada. |
Where the eye mixes spy and stay
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. spy runs 3 letters (CCV) against stay's 4 (CCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses spy with stay
A purely visual mix-up. spy (/spaɪ/) and stay (/steɪ/) 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 75878, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spy is recorded at frequency rank #48,092, classified as anoun, pronounced /spaɪ/. stay is at rank #27,786, tagged as anoun, pronounced /steɪ/.
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 75878, this pair ranks #18,732 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of spy vs stay
Shared letters: sy. Private to "spy": p. Private to "stay": at.
"spy" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "stay" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- stay ← saty · sstay · stayy · sttay · stya · tsay
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "spy" and "stay" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "spy" or "stay"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "spy" and "stay" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "spy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stay" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #18,732 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spy" and "stay" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sei vs spy". 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 #18,732 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.