Which to use
“race” and “rape” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #882
- “race” frequency rank
- #3,127
- “rape” frequency rank
- 4009
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | race | rape |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A contest between people, animals, vehicles, etc. where the goal is to be the first to reach some objective. | The act of forcing sex upon another person without their consent or against their will; originally coitus forced by a man on a woman, but now generally any sex act forced by any person upon another person, regardless of gender; by extension, any non-consensual sex act forced on, perpetrated by, or forced to penetrate any being. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set race and rape apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
race and rape form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by a single letter - c in “race” becomes p in “rape” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4009, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
race is recorded at frequency rank #882, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹeɪs/. rape is at rank #3,127, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹeɪ̯p/.
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 4009, this pair ranks #520,293 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "race" and "rape" be used interchangeably?
Remembering race vs rape
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “race” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable