Correctly using pray or prey starts with knowing they’re homophones, words sounding alike but with different spellings and meanings. To pray usually means to make an entreaty to a deity. Prey can be an action– hunting – or a thing– something being hunted. Read on for a fuller understanding of the meanings of the words and their correct usage.
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What Does Pray Mean?
In most cases, pray is a verb for praising or asking something of a divine being. It can be either a transitive verb (directed at an object) or an intransitive verb, and the examples will show both.
Pray’s origin is the Latin precari, “to entreat.” It became precare in Late Latin and preier in Old French. The current spelling appeared in Middle English and meant “to ask earnestly.”
Example sentences:
- Every morning, my grandmother prays the Rosary. (transitive)
- Religiously devout people regularly pray to God. (intransitive)
- Before each game, the team would pray together for success. (intransitive)
- After Confession, I had to pray the Hail Mary several times as my penance. (transitive)
- After your operation, we will pray that you make a full recovery. (transitive because what follows pray is a noun clause used as a direct object)
- Pray for more blessings.
- I pray to Saint Michael all the time.
When and How to Use Pray?
Pray is a regular verb and thus is easy to use in both speech and text. As a matter of fact, adding -ed and -ing requires no spelling or pronunciation changes.
Usually, pray has a religious context, but that’s not always the case. Let’s look at some examples.
First, take the expression “pray tell.” This idiom indicates emphasis on a request.
Example sentence:
- And when, pray tell, were you going to share this convenient little fact with me?
You can also use it in another way that doesn’t involve actual prayer.
Example sentence:
- I pray that we win the Homecoming game.
Probably, the person is using pray as “wish” or “hope.”
What Does Prey Mean?
As a noun, prey refers to an animal that another animal pursues and kills for food. As a verb, the word indicates the action of hunting or pursuing another animal. In that context, the word usually appears with something like on or upon.
There is also a usage of the word that applies to unscrupulous or criminal human behavior. For example, a scam artist can prey upon vulnerable people. The people a criminal targets for property crime or violent crime are that person’s prey. Similarly, a person can fall prey to another person’s charms or scams.
Etymologically, prey as a noun comes from the Latin praeda (“booty”). Later, it became preie in Old French. Today’s form first appeared in Middle English, back then, it also referred to plunder an invading force might take during war.
The verb form of the word comes from the Latin praedari (“seize as plunder”), which later became preier in Old French.
Example sentences:
- In Yellowstone, you might get to see wolves pursue elk, their favorite prey.
- Praying Mantis likes to prey on insects.
- Eagles like to prey on rabbits.
- Predators often rely on stealth to bring down their prey.
- Lions and other predators tend to prey on old and/or sick pack members that make easier prey.
- The corrupt pastor would prey upon the faith of his congregation to get them to fund his lavish lifestyle.
- Don’t fall prey to that fancy talk; he just wants to separate you from your money.
When and How to Use Prey?
As a verb, prey is a regular verb. Thus, there are no spelling or pronunciation changes when forming the past (preyed) or present participle (preying).
Can you use it in a religious context? The fourth example in the previous section shows that you can. However, note that the word itself has no religious meaning there.
Trick to Remembering the Correct Spelling
To avoid confusion about when to use pray or prey, try these helpful tricks:
- Pray and the word prayer have the same root and very similar meanings.
- For prey, you can think of the eyes of a predator watching its target.
Final Thoughts
Although they sound exactly the same, knowing how to use pray or prey isn’t that hard. Remember, both have different meanings and applications. For non-religious contexts, the word prey is what you should use. While the word “pray” is related to the higher power, heaven, religious ceremony, spiritual communication, or object of worship.
