grayvsguyTell them apart

Which to use

“gray” and “guy” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,365
“gray” frequency rank
#7,165
“guy” frequency rank
17530
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gray guy
Definition unidade no Sistema Internacional de medidas, representado por Gy, que representa a quantidade de energia de radiação ionizante absorvida (ou dose) por unidade de massa, e é definido como a quantidade que deposita 1 joule (J) de energia por quilograma (kg) do meio absorvedor, sendo 1 Gy = 1 J/kg cara

Where the eye mixes gray and guy

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
gray
3 ch
guy

Visual trap between gray and guy

A purely visual mix-up. gray (/'greɪ/) and guy (/gaɪ/) 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 17530, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gray is recorded at frequency rank #10,365, classified as anoun, pronounced /'greɪ/. guy is at rank #7,165, tagged as anoun, pronounced /gaɪ/.

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 17530, this pair ranks #53,695 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gray vs guy

Shared letters: gy. Private to "gray": ar. Private to "guy": u.

"gray" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "guy" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • graygary · ggray · grayy · grray · grya · rgay

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gray" and "guy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/'greɪ/ versus /gaɪ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gray" vs "guy" - which ranks higher?
"guy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,165 in our Portuguese list, against #10,365 for "gray". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gray" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "guy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #53,695 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gray" and "guy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gray vs grip". 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 #53,695 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list