Which to use
“race” and “rates” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #882
- “race” frequency rank
- #1,406
- “rates” frequency rank
- 2288
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | race | rates |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A contest between people, animals, vehicles, etc. where the goal is to be the first to reach some objective. | plural of rate |
Where the eye mixes race and rates
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. race (/ɹeɪs/) and rates (/ɹeɪts/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2288, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
race is recorded at frequency rank #882, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹeɪs/. rates is at rank #1,406, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹeɪts/.
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 2288, this pair ranks #525,351 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of race vs rates
Shared letters: aer. Private to "race": c. Private to "rates": st.
"race" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "rates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC