racevsRatWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“race” and “Rat” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,154
“race” frequency rank
#1,567
“Rat” frequency rank
13721
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature race Rat
Definition Rasse Empfehlung, sich in einer bestimmten Weise zu verhalten

Where the eye mixes race and Rat

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

4 ch
race
3 ch
Rat

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. race ([ɹeɪs]) and Rat ([ʁaːt]) 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 13721, 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]. Rat is at rank #1,567, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʁaːt].

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 13721, this pair ranks #1,956,161 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of race vs Rat

Shared letters: ar. Private to "race": ce. Private to "Rat": t.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • racearce · racce · raec · rcae · rrace

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "race" and "Rat" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɹeɪs] versus [ʁaːt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "race" or "Rat"?
"Rat" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,567 in our German list, against #12,154 for "race". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "race" and "Rat". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "race" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Rat" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,956,161 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "race" and "Rat" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "race vs Ramen". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list