rakesvsrisesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#41,329
“rakes” frequency rank
#6,410
“rises” frequency rank
47739
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rakes rises
Definition plural of rake third-person singular simple present indicative of rise

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set rakes and rises apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
rakes
5 ch
rises

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rakes is /ɹeɪks/ while rises is /ˈɹaɪzɪz/. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47739, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rakes is recorded at frequency rank #41,329, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹeɪks/. rises is at rank #6,410, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɹaɪzɪz/.

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 47739, this pair ranks #199,664 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rakes vs rises

Shared letters: ers. Private to "rakes": ak. Private to "rises": i.

"rakes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "rises" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rakesarkes · raeks · rakess · rakkes · rakse · rkaes · rrakes
  • risesirses · riess · risess · risses · rrises · rsies

Frequency comparison

rakes#41,329
rises#6,410

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rakes" and "rises" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rakes" is a noun and "rises" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rakes" or "rises"?
"rises" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,410 in our English list, against #41,329 for "rakes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering rakes vs rises

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “rakes”; for a verb, it's “rises”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “rakes” 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