Which to use
“roster” and “router” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,176
- “roster” frequency rank
- #15,046
- “router” frequency rank
- 21222
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | roster | router |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A list of individuals or groups, usually for an organization of some kind such as military officers and enlisted personnel enrolled in a particular unit; a muster roll; a sports team, with the names of players who are eligible to be placed in the lineup for a particular game; or a list of students officially enrolled in a school or class. | Someone who routes or directs items from one location to another. |
Where the eye mixes roster and router
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between roster and router
A purely visual mix-up. roster (/ˈɹɒs.tə/) and router (/ˈɹuː.tə(ɹ)/) 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 a single letter - s in “roster” becomes u in “router”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21222, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
roster is recorded at frequency rank #6,176, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹɒs.tə/. router is at rank #15,046, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹuː.tə(ɹ)/.
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 21222, this pair ranks #425,466 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of roster vs router
Shared letters: eort. Private to "roster": s. Private to "router": u.
"roster" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "router" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "roster" and "router" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "roster" vs "router" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "roster" and "router" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "roster" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "router" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #425,466 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "roster" and "router" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rafter vs router". 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 #425,466 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.