rajavsrayWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#36,572
“raja” frequency rank
#4,925
“ray” frequency rank
41497
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature raja ray
Definition Rochen (Raja) Strahl, der von einer Energiequelle ausgeht

Where the eye mixes raja and ray

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

4 ch
raja
3 ch
ray

Look-alike desk: raja vs ray

A purely visual mix-up. raja ([ˈraja]) 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 41497, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

raja is recorded at frequency rank #36,572, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈraja]. 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 41497, this pair ranks #1,477,630 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of raja vs ray

Shared letters: ar. Private to "raja": j. Private to "ray": y.

"raja" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "ray" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rajaarja · raaj · rajja · rjaa · rraja

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "raja" for "ray" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈraja] versus [ɹeɪ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "raja" or "ray"?
"ray" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,925 in our German list, against #36,572 for "raja". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "raja" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ray" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,477,630 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "raja" and "ray" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "raja vs RSA". 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 #1,477,630 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