Which to use
“race” and “ray” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,154
- “race” frequency rank
- #4,925
- “ray” frequency rank
- 17079
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | race | ray |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Rasse | Strahl, der von einer Energiequelle ausgeht |
Where the eye mixes race and ray
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. race ([ɹeɪs]) and ray ([ɹeɪ]) 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 17079, 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]. ray is at rank #4,925, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɹeɪ].
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 17079, this pair ranks #1,930,525 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of race vs ray
Shared letters: ar. Private to "race": ce. Private to "ray": y.
"race" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "ray" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- race ← arce · racce · raec · rcae · rrace