Which to use
“roe” and “roque” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,334
- “roe” frequency rank
- #49,602
- “roque” frequency rank
- 65936
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | roe | roque |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Eggs of fish. | A form of croquet using short-handled mallets, and played on a hard surface. |
Where the eye mixes roe and roque
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses roe with roque
A purely visual mix-up. roe (/ˈɹəʊ/) and roque (/ɹoʊk/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65936, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
roe is recorded at frequency rank #16,334, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹəʊ/. roque is at rank #49,602, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹoʊk/.
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 65936, this pair ranks #70,372 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of roe vs roque
Shared letters: eor. Private to "roe": -. Private to "roque": qu.
"roe" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "roque" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- roque ← orque · roqeu · roqque · rouqe · rqoue · rroque
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "roe" for "roque" ever safe?
Which is more common, "roe" or "roque"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "roe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "roque" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #70,372 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "roe" and "roque" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rolfe vs roque". 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 #70,372 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.