Which to use
“race” is a noun and “ran” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,154
- “race” frequency rank
- #3,914
- “ran” frequency rank
- 16068
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | race | ran |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Rasse | in die Richtung zu einem Objekt und dabei auch zum Sprecher hin; auf den Sprechenden zu; in die Nähe einer Sache oder des Sprechers |
Where the eye mixes race and ran
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: race is [ɹeɪs] while ran is [ʁan]. 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 adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16068, 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]. ran is at rank #3,914, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ʁan].
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 16068, this pair ranks #1,938,864 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of race vs ran
Shared letters: ar. Private to "race": ce. Private to "ran": n.
"race" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "ran" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- race ← arce · racce · raec · rcae · rrace