Which to use
“race” and “rope” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #882
- “race” frequency rank
- #6,517
- “rope” frequency rank
- 7399
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | race | rope |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A contest between people, animals, vehicles, etc. where the goal is to be the first to reach some objective. | Thick strings, yarn, monofilaments, metal wires, or strands of other cordage that are twisted together to form a stronger line. |
Where the eye mixes race and rope
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: race vs rope
A purely visual mix-up. race (/ɹeɪs/) and rope (/ɹəʊp/) 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 7399, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
race is recorded at frequency rank #882, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹeɪs/. rope is at rank #6,517, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹəʊp/.
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 7399, this pair ranks #507,275 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of race vs rope
Shared letters: er. Private to "race": ac. Private to "rope": op.
"race" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "rope" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "race" and "rope" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "race" or "rope"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "race" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rope" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #507,275 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "race" and "rope" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rope vs roque". 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 #507,275 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.