Which to use
“ragged” and “raked” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,783
- “ragged” frequency rank
- #34,660
- “raked” frequency rank
- 57443
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ragged | raked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | In tatters, having the texture broken. | sloping |
Where the eye mixes ragged and raked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ragged runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against raked's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between ragged and raked
A purely visual mix-up. ragged (/ˈɹæɡɪd/) and raked (/ɹeɪkt/) 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 57443, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ragged is recorded at frequency rank #22,783, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈɹæɡɪd/. raked is at rank #34,660, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɹeɪkt/.
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 57443, this pair ranks #119,262 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ragged vs raked
Shared letters: ader. Private to "ragged": g. Private to "raked": k.
"ragged" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "raked" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ragged" and "raked" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ragged" or "raked"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ragged" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "raked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #119,262 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ragged" and "raked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "raked vs ramped". 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 #119,262 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.