raidvsrainWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,253
“raid” frequency rank
#2,012
“rain” frequency rank
7265
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature raid rain
Definition A quick hostile or predatory incursion or invasion in a battle. Condensed water falling from a cloud.

Where the eye mixes raid and rain

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
raid
4 ch
rain

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. raid (/ɹeɪd/) and rain (/ˈɹeɪ̯n/) 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 - d in “raid” becomes n in “rain”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7265, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

raid is recorded at frequency rank #5,253, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹeɪd/. rain is at rank #2,012, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹeɪ̯n/.

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 7265, this pair ranks #507,869 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of raid vs rain

Shared letters: air. Private to "raid": d. Private to "rain": n.

"raid" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "rain" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raidradi · raidd · riad · rraid
  • rainarin · rainn · rian · rrain

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "raid" and "rain" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɹeɪd/ versus /ˈɹeɪ̯n/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "raid" or "rain"?
"rain" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,012 in our English list, against #5,253 for "raid". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list