racevsRAFWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: race is a noun, RAF is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“race” is a noun and “RAF” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,154
“race” frequency rank
#12,779
“RAF” frequency rank
24933
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature race RAF
Definition Rasse Rote Armee Fraktion

Where the eye mixes race and RAF

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

4 ch
race
3 ch
RAF

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: race is [ɹeɪs] while RAF is [ʁaf]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24933, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

race is recorded at frequency rank #12,154, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɹeɪs]. RAF is at rank #12,779, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [ʁaf].

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 24933, this pair ranks #1,840,518 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of race vs RAF

Shared letters: ar. Private to "race": ce. Private to "RAF": f.

"race" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "RAF" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • racearce · racce · raec · rcae · rrace

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "race" and "RAF" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "race" is a noun and "RAF" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "race" or "RAF"?
"race" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,154 in our German list, against #12,779 for "RAF". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list