English homophones
roles/rolls
"roles" (#3,391 written frequency) beats "rolls" (#4,889) in this 2-word /ɹəʊlz/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /ɹəʊlz/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "roles" leads at #3,391, with "rolls" trailing at #4,889.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "rol" then splits - "roles" (5 letters) vs "rolls" (5).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across roles, rolls: lors. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
roles
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCVC
Inventory elors · private e
rolls
5 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCCC
Inventory lors · no private letters vs siblings
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "roles" when you mean: plural of role
- Write "rolls" when you mean: plural of roll
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (roles, rolls). Here's where to go from here.
- "roles" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #3,391 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: Rosie · rosy. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "roles, rolls" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.