Which to use
“spray” and “spy” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,379
- “spray” frequency rank
- #37,565
- “spy” frequency rank
- 60944
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spray | spy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vaporisateur. | Espion. |
Where the eye mixes spray and spy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. spray runs 5 letters (CCCVV) against spy's 3 (CCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses spray with spy
A purely visual mix-up. spray (\spʁɛ\) and spy (\spaɪ\) 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 60944, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spray is recorded at frequency rank #23,379, classified as anoun, pronounced \spʁɛ\. spy is at rank #37,565, tagged as anoun, pronounced \spaɪ\.
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 60944, this pair ranks #94,927 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of spray vs spy
Shared letters: psy. Private to "spray": ar. Private to "spy": -.
"spray" · 5 letters · shape CCCVV · "spy" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- spray ← psray · spary · sppray · sprayy · sprray · sprya · srpay · sspray
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "spray" for "spy" ever safe?
Frequency check: "spray" vs "spy" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "spray" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #94,927 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spray" and "spy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spy vs suu". 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 #94,927 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.