Pray - prey

Two homophones whose spellings differ by a single letter, pray and (or or) prey can cause trouble. Do not confuse them!

• 'To pray' is a verb. It means 'to ask [especially one's God] for [something]'. The associated noun is 'a prayer'. There is no normal noun pray. Arabic-speaking students sometimes say 'make pray'. This is NOT a native speaker's construction. Use 'to pray' instead.

• Prey can belong to different word classes.
  • The non-count noun prey means 'the animals which are hunted for food' - mice are a cat's natural prey, as deer are a lion's.
  • Prey is also used, mostly in biological sciences, as an adjective in such descriptions as 'sheep are a prey species' (they are liable to be hunted by any predator large enough), and 'seals are prey to killer whales.'
  • These two developed from a verb, 'to prey on': a shark preys on everything that moves in the sea; 'a spider preys on flies.'
  • All these word classes can be used figuratively as well as literally. A mugger preys on lonely people; a greedy landlord may be said to prey upon the poor; and a worry can prey on one's mind. Some people are said to be prey to unnecessary fears.