Which to use
“rabies” and “ranges” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,323
- “rabies” frequency rank
- #6,611
- “ranges” frequency rank
- 27934
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rabies | ranges |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An infectious disease caused by species of Lyssavirus that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals and people, characterised by abnormal behaviour such as biting, excitement, aggressiveness, and dementia, followed by paralysis and death. | plural of range |
Where the eye mixes rabies and ranges
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. rabies (CVCVVC) and ranges (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: rabies vs ranges
A purely visual mix-up. rabies (/ˈɹeɪ.biːz/) and ranges (/ˈɹeɪnd͡ʒɪz/) 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 27934, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rabies is recorded at frequency rank #21,323, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹeɪ.biːz/. ranges is at rank #6,611, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹeɪnd͡ʒɪz/.
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 27934, this pair ranks #374,967 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of rabies vs ranges
Shared letters: aers. Private to "rabies": bi. Private to "ranges": gn.
"rabies" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "ranges" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "rabies" for "ranges" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "rabies" or "ranges" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "rabies" and "ranges" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "rabies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ranges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #374,967 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rabies" and "ranges" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rabies vs rapier". 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 #374,967 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.