raftingvsraisingWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,903
“rafting” frequency rank
#3,448
“raising” frequency rank
39351
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rafting raising
Definition present participle and gerund of raft present participle and gerund of raise

Where the eye mixes rafting and raising

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
rafting
7 ch
raising

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. rafting (/ˈɹɑːftɪŋ/) and raising (/ˈɹeɪzɪŋ/) 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 39351, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rafting is recorded at frequency rank #35,903, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɹɑːftɪŋ/. raising is at rank #3,448, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɹeɪzɪŋ/.

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 39351, this pair ranks #277,517 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rafting vs raising

Shared letters: aginr. Private to "rafting": ft. Private to "raising": s.

"rafting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "raising" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raftingarfting · raffting · rafitng · raftign · raftingg · raftinng · raftnig · raftting
  • raisingraiisng · raisign · raisingg · raisinng · raisnig · raissing · rasiing · riasing

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rafting" and "raising" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɹɑːftɪŋ/ versus /ˈɹeɪzɪŋ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rafting" or "raising"?
"raising" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,448 in our English list, against #35,903 for "rafting". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list