Which to use
“dey” and “dray” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,244
- “dey” frequency rank
- #49,605
- “dray” frequency rank
- 87849
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dey | dray |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chef militaire ottoman, vassal du bey. | Charrette. |
Where the eye mixes dey and dray
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. dey runs 3 letters (CVV) against dray's 4 (CCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dey with dray
A purely visual mix-up. dey (\dɛ\) and dray (\dɹeɪ\) 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 87849, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dey is recorded at frequency rank #38,244, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɛ\. dray is at rank #49,605, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɹeɪ\.
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 87849, this pair ranks #7,723 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dey vs dray
Shared letters: dy. Private to "dey": e. Private to "dray": ar.
"dey" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "dray" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- dray ← dary · ddray · drayy · drray · drya · rday
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dey" for "dray" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dey" vs "dray" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dey" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dray" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #7,723 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dey" and "dray" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "DAF vs dray". 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 #7,723 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.