Which to use
“raid” and “road” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,253
- “raid” frequency rank
- #577
- “road” frequency rank
- 5830
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | raid | road |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A quick hostile or predatory incursion or invasion in a battle. | A way used for travelling between places, originally one wide enough to allow foot passengers and horses to travel, now (US) usually one surfaced with asphalt or concrete and designed to accommodate many vehicles travelling in both directions. In the UK both senses are heard: a country road is the same as a country lane. |
Where the eye mixes raid and road
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: raid vs road
A purely visual mix-up. raid (/ɹeɪd/) and road (/ɾoːɖ/) 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 5830, 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/. road is at rank #577, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɾoːɖ/.
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 5830, this pair ranks #513,858 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of raid vs road
Shared letters: adr. Private to "raid": i. Private to "road": o.
"raid" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "road" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "raid" and "road" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "raid" vs "road" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "raid" and "road" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "raid" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "road" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #513,858 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "raid" and "road" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "raid vs rood". 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 #513,858 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.