Which to use
“races” and “rates” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,779
- “races” frequency rank
- #1,406
- “rates” frequency rank
- 5185
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | races | rates |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of race | plural of rate |
Where the eye mixes races and rates
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. races (/ˈɹeɪsɪz/) 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 a single letter - c in “races” becomes t in “rates”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5185, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
races is recorded at frequency rank #3,779, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹeɪsɪz/. 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 5185, this pair ranks #516,283 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of races vs rates
Shared letters: aers. Private to "races": c. Private to "rates": t.
"races" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "rates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC