roe
/ˈɹəʊ/
"roe" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“roe” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #16,334) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #16,334
- frequency rank, English
- 3,094
- “R” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Eggs of fish.
Corpus desk
Index EN-roe · roe · English
roe · rank #16,334 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #16,334
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,094
- PHOTO-FINISH Rockefeller
Nearest frequency peer: Rockefeller (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “roe”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- rites
rites
83,671 corpus weight
- Rivera
Rivera
83,670 corpus weight
- roach
roach
83,669 corpus weight
- Rockefeller
Rockefeller
83,668 corpus weight
- roe
roe
83,667 corpus weight
- rubble
rubble
83,665 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “roe” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | roe |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɹəʊ/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #16,334 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “roe” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for roe is neighbouring look-alikes ("RS", "RT", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /ˈɹəʊ/. Frequency #16,334 among 3,094 “R” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Zero misspellings are on record for roe in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "RS", "RT", "RP", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English rowe, rowne, roun, rawne, from Old English *hrogn (“spawn, fish eggs, roe”), from Proto-Germanic *hrugnaz, *hrugną (“spawn, roe”), from Proto-Indo-European *krek- (“(frog) spawn”). Cognate with Dutch roge (“roe”), German Low German Rögen… The correct English form is roe, spelled R-O-E.
Definition
- 1Eggs of fish.
- 2Sperm of certain fish.
- 3Ovaries of certain crustaceans.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how roe appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
It was quite flavourless, except that, where its innards had been imperfectly removed, silver traces of roe gave it an unpleasant bitterness.
Today, some seafood experts say, the cheaper (though mushier) roe feeds 60 percent of the market.
Etymology
From Middle English rowe, rowne, roun, rawne, from Old English *hrogn (“spawn, fish eggs, roe”), from Proto-Germanic *hrugnaz, *hrugną (“spawn, roe”), from Proto-Indo-European *krek- (“(frog) spawn”). Cognate with Dutch roge (“roe”), German Low German Rögen (“roe”), German Rogen (“roe”), Danish rogn, ravn (“roe”), Swedish rom (“roe”), Icelandic hrogn (“roe”), Lithuanian kurkulai̇̃ (“frog spawn”), Russian кряк (krjak, “frog spawn”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "roe", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "roe". Here's where to go from here.
- "roe" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "RS". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #16,334 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "R" letter cohort. R–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.