Which to use
“bray” and “by” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,349
- “bray” frequency rank
- #2,462
- “by” frequency rank
- 29811
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bray | by |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Braiment d’un âne. | Fossé qui traverse un étang, aboutissant à sa bonde. |
Where the eye mixes bray and by
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between bray and by
A purely visual mix-up. bray (\breɪ\) and by (\bi\) 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 29811, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bray is recorded at frequency rank #27,349, classified as anoun, pronounced \breɪ\. by is at rank #2,462, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bi\.
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 29811, this pair ranks #314,324 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bray vs by
Shared letters: by. Private to "bray": ar. Private to "by": -.
"bray" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "by" · 2 letters · shape CV
Known mistypes of this pair
- bray ← bbray · brayy · brray · brya · rbay
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bray" and "by" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "bray" vs "by" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bray" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "by" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #314,324 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bray" and "by" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bray vs bury". 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 #314,324 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.