racevsraidWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“race” and “raid” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#882
“race” frequency rank
#5,253
“raid” frequency rank
6135
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature race raid
Definition A contest between people, animals, vehicles, etc. where the goal is to be the first to reach some objective. A quick hostile or predatory incursion or invasion in a battle.

Where the eye mixes race and raid

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

4 ch
race
4 ch
raid

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. race (/ɹeɪs/) and raid (/ɹeɪd/) 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 6135, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

race is recorded at frequency rank #882, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹeɪs/. raid is at rank #5,253, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹeɪd/.

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 6135, this pair ranks #512,607 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of race vs raid

Shared letters: ar. Private to "race": ce. Private to "raid": di.

"race" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "raid" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • racearce · racce · raec · rcae · rrace
  • raidradi · raidd · riad · rraid

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "race" and "raid" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɹeɪs/ versus /ɹeɪd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "race" or "raid"?
"race" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #882 in our English list, against #5,253 for "raid". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list