raisevsrangeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: raise is a verb, range is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“raise” is a verb and “range” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,836
“raise” frequency rank
#793
“range” frequency rank
2629
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature raise range
Definition To cause to rise; to lift or elevate. A line or series of mountains, buildings, etc.

Where the eye mixes raise and range

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

5 ch
raise
5 ch
range

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: raise is /ɹeɪz/ while range is /ɹeɪnd͡ʒ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2629, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

raise is recorded at frequency rank #1,836, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹeɪz/. range is at rank #793, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹeɪnd͡ʒ/.

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 2629, this pair ranks #524,474 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of raise vs range

Shared letters: aer. Private to "raise": is. Private to "range": gn.

"raise" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "range" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raiseraies · raisse · rasie · riase · rraise
  • rangearnge · ragne · raneg · rangge · rannge · rnage · rrange

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "raise" and "range" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "raise" is a verb and "range" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "raise" or "range"?
"range" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #793 in our English list, against #1,836 for "raise". 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