# rabies vs rapier

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### rabies
*noun · IPA /ˈɹeɪ.biːz/ · frequency rank #21,323*
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.

### rapier
*noun · IPA /ˈɹeɪpˌɪə(ɹ)/ · frequency rank #48,443*
A slender, straight, sharply pointed sword (double-edged, single-edged or edgeless), designed predominantly for thrusting; used during the Renaissance period of Europe for civilian duelling

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rabies-vs-rapier