prey

\ˈpɹeɪ\

/\ˈpɹeɪ\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“prey” is uncommon French (frequency #56,190 among 6,826 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#56,190
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Proie.

Corpus desk

Index FR-prey · prey · French

prey · rank #56,190 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #56,190
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH pretend

Nearest frequency peer: pretend (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « prey »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « prey » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for prey
PropertyValue
Headwordprey
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ˈpɹeɪ\
Letters4
Frequency rank#56,190
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « prey » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.preytombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « pretend » (#56,189), « prieurs » (#56,191), « presta » (#56,188). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « prey » est au #56,190. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

prey is uncommon French at frequency #56,190 among 6,826 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ˈpɹeɪ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Proie.".

prey doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is prey, spelled P-R-E-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Proie.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "prey"?
"prey" is spelled P-R-E-Y. The IPA pronunciation is \ˈpɹeɪ\.
What does "prey" mean?
As a noun, "prey" means: Proie.
How do you pronounce "prey"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "prey" is \ˈpɹeɪ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "prey" come from?
"prey" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "prey", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

node#56,137Muir#56,123seas#56,260serf#56,263

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list