raidvsraysConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#24,888
“raid” frequency rank
#37,153
“rays” frequency rank
62041
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature raid rays
Definition Angriff Plural des Substantivs ray

Where the eye mixes raid and rays

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

4 ch
raid
4 ch
rays

Look-alike desk: raid vs rays

A purely visual mix-up. raid ([ɹeɪd]) and rays ([ɹeɪz]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62041, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

raid is recorded at frequency rank #24,888, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɹeɪd]. rays is at rank #37,153, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɹeɪz].

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 62041, this pair ranks #727,353 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of raid vs rays

Shared letters: ar. Private to "raid": di. Private to "rays": sy.

"raid" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "rays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raidarid · radi · raidd · rraid
  • raysarys · rasy · rayss · rayys · rrays · ryas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "raid" and "rays" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɹeɪd] versus [ɹeɪz]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "raid" or "rays" show up more?
"raid" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,888 in our German list, against #37,153 for "rays". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "raid" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rays" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #727,353 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "raid" and "rays" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rades vs rays". 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

Confusion rank #727,353 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list