drayvsdrugWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“dray” and “drug” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#49,605
“dray” frequency rank
#29,732
“drug” frequency rank
79337
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dray drug
Definition Charrette. Médicament, drogue.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dray and drug apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
dray
4 ch
drug

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. dray (\dɹeɪ\) and drug (\dɹʌɡ\) 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 79337, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dray is recorded at frequency rank #49,605, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɹeɪ\. drug is at rank #29,732, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɹʌɡ\.

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 79337, this pair ranks #23,555 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dray vs drug

Shared letters: dr. Private to "dray": ay. Private to "drug": gu.

"dray" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "drug" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • draydary · ddray · drayy · drray · drya · rday
  • drugddrug · drgu · drrug · drugg · durg · rdug

Frequency comparison

dray#49,605
drug#29,732

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dray" and "drug" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\dɹeɪ\ versus \dɹʌɡ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dray" or "drug"?
"drug" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,732 in our French list, against #49,605 for "dray". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dray vs drug

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dray” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list