rakedvsroaredWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: raked is a adjective, roared is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“raked” is an adjective and “roared” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,660
“raked” frequency rank
#27,997
“roared” frequency rank
62657
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature raked roared
Definition sloping simple past and past participle of roar

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set raked and roared apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
raked
6 ch
roared

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: raked is /ɹeɪkt/ while roared is /ɹɔːd/. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62657, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

raked is recorded at frequency rank #34,660, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɹeɪkt/. roared is at rank #27,997, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɔːd/.

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 62657, this pair ranks #87,258 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of raked vs roared

Shared letters: ader. Private to "raked": k. Private to "roared": o.

"raked" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "roared" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rakedarked · raekd · rakde · rakedd · rakked · rkaed · rraked
  • roaredorared · raored · roaerd · roarde · roaredd · roarred · roraed · rroared

Frequency comparison

raked#34,660
roared#27,997

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "raked" and "roared" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "raked" is an adjective and "roared" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "raked" or "roared"?
"roared" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,997 in our English list, against #34,660 for "raked". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering raked vs roared

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “raked”; for a verb, it's “roared”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “raked” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list