proudvsproxyConfusable pair

Quick tell: proud is a adjective, proxy is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“proud” is an adjective and “proxy” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,806
“proud” frequency rank
#30,753
“proxy” frequency rank
76559
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature proud proxy
Definition Fier. Serveur informatique qui a pour fonction de relayer des requêtes entre un poste client et un serveur, utilisé pour assurer les fonctions de mémoire cache, de journalisation des requêtes (« logging »), assurer la sécurité du réseau local, le filtrage et l’anonymat.

Where the eye mixes proud and proxy

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
proud
5 ch
proxy

Visual trap between proud and proxy

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: proud is \pɹaʊd\ while proxy is \pʁɔk.si\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76559, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

proud is recorded at frequency rank #45,806, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɹaʊd\. proxy is at rank #30,753, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔk.si\.

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 76559, this pair ranks #30,785 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of proud vs proxy

Shared letters: opr. Private to "proud": du. Private to "proxy": xy.

"proud" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "proxy" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • proudporud · pproud · produ · proudd · prroud · pruod · rpoud
  • proxyporxy · pproxy · proxxy · proxyy · proyx · prroxy · prxoy · rpoxy

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "proud" and "proxy" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "proud" is an adjective and "proxy" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "proud" vs "proxy" - which ranks higher?
"proxy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,753 in our French list, against #45,806 for "proud". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "proud" and "proxy" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "proud" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "proxy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,785 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "proud" and "proxy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "proud vs prude". 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 #30,785 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list