raysvsreisWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“rays” and “reis” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,827
“rays” frequency rank
#42,368
“reis” frequency rank
49195
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rays reis
Definition plural of ray The holder of an Ottoman military rank akin to that of naval captain.

Letter map: rays vs reis

Shared letters muted; letters that set rays and reis apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
rays
4 ch
reis

Pair insight - rays / reis

rays and reis are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49195, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rays is recorded at frequency rank #6,827, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹeɪz/. reis is at rank #42,368, tagged as anoun.

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 49195, this pair ranks #185,897 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rays vs reis

Shared letters: rs. Private to "rays": ay. Private to "reis": ei.

"rays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "reis" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raysarys · rasy · rayss · rayys · rrays · ryas
  • reiseris · reiss · resi · rreis

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rays" and "reis" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary English text, does "rays" or "reis" show up more?
"rays" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,827 in our English list, against #42,368 for "reis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "rays" and "reis".

  • Full dictionary entry for "rays" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #185,897 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rays" and "reis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reis vs Revis". 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 #185,897 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list