Which to use
“rape” and “rates” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,127
- “rape” frequency rank
- #1,406
- “rates” frequency rank
- 4533
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rape | rates |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of forcing sex upon another person without their consent or against their will; originally coitus forced by a man on a woman, but now generally any sex act forced by any person upon another person, regardless of gender; by extension, any non-consensual sex act forced on, perpetrated by, or forced to penetrate any being. | plural of rate |
Where the eye mixes rape and rates
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. rape (/ˈɹeɪ̯p/) and rates (/ɹeɪts/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4533, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rape is recorded at frequency rank #3,127, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹeɪ̯p/. rates is at rank #1,406, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹeɪts/.
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 4533, this pair ranks #518,611 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of rape vs rates
Shared letters: aer. Private to "rape": p. Private to "rates": st.
"rape" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "rates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "rape" and "rates" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "rape" or "rates"?
What to do next
You've compared "rape" and "rates". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "rape" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #518,611 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rape" and "rates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rape vs Rhee". 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
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.