Which to use
“raise” is a verb and “ruse” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,836
- “raise” frequency rank
- #23,664
- “ruse” frequency rank
- 25500
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | raise | ruse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To cause to rise; to lift or elevate. | A turning or doubling back, especially of animals to get out of the way of hunting dogs. |
Where the eye mixes raise and ruse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: raise vs ruse
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: raise is /ɹeɪz/ while ruse is /ɹuːz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25500, 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/. ruse is at rank #23,664, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹuːz/.
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 25500, this pair ranks #393,813 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of raise vs ruse
Shared letters: ers. Private to "raise": ai. Private to "ruse": u.
"raise" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "ruse" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "raise" and "ruse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "raise" or "ruse"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "raise" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ruse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #393,813 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "raise" and "ruse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rua vs ruse". 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 #393,813 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.