raftingvsratingWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,903
“rafting” frequency rank
#3,329
“rating” frequency rank
39232
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rafting rating
Definition present participle and gerund of raft present participle and gerund of rate

Where the eye mixes rafting and rating

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
rafting
6 ch
rating

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. rafting (/ˈɹɑːftɪŋ/) and rating (/ˈɹeɪtɪŋ/) 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 39232, 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/. rating is at rank #3,329, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɹeɪtɪŋ/.

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 39232, this pair ranks #278,581 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rafting vs rating

Shared letters: aginrt. Private to "rafting": f. Private to "rating": -.

"rafting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "rating" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raftingarfting · raffting · rafitng · raftign · raftingg · raftinng · raftnig · raftting
  • ratingarting · raitng · ratign · ratingg · ratinng · ratnig · ratting · rrating

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rafting" and "rating" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɹɑːftɪŋ/ versus /ˈɹeɪtɪŋ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rafting" or "rating"?
"rating" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,329 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