Which to use
“rest” and “risk” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #594
- “rest” frequency rank
- #955
- “risk” frequency rank
- 1549
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rest | risk |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Relief from work or activity by sleeping; sleep. | The probability of a negative outcome to a decision or event. |
Where the eye mixes rest and risk
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. rest (/ɹɛst/) and risk (/ɹɪsk/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1549, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rest is recorded at frequency rank #594, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɛst/. risk is at rank #955, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪsk/.
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 1549, this pair ranks #527,197 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of rest vs risk
Shared letters: rs. Private to "rest": et. Private to "risk": ik.
"rest" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "risk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC