Which to use
“ray” is a noun and “re” is a particle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,925
- “ray” frequency rank
- #4,150
- “re” frequency rank
- 9075
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ray | re |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Strahl, der von einer Energiequelle ausgeht | beim Solmisieren oder Solfeggieren benutzte Silbe zum Singen eines bestimmten Tons aus der Tonleiter |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ray and re apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
ray and re form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9075, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ray is recorded at frequency rank #4,925, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɹeɪ]. re is at rank #4,150, tagged as aparticle, pronounced [ʁeː].
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 9075, this pair ranks #1,981,568 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ray" and "re" be used interchangeably?
Remembering ray vs re
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “ray”; for a particle, it's “re”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ray” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable