rvsRyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: r is a character, Ry is a symbol, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“r” is a character and “Ry” is a symbol - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#637
“r” frequency rank
#48,773
“Ry” frequency rank
49410
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature r Ry
Definition Dix-huitième lettre et quatorzième consonne de l’alphabet (minuscule). Symbole du rydberg, unité de mesure d’énergie utilisée en physique des particules.

Letter map: r vs Ry

Shared letters muted; letters that set r and Ry apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

1 ch
r
2 ch
Ry

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: r is acharacter and Ryasymbol. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “r” sits inside “Ry”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49410, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

r is recorded at frequency rank #637, classified as acharacter, pronounced \ɛʁ\. Ry is at rank #48,773, tagged as asymbol.

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 49410, this pair ranks #170,913 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of r vs Ry

Shared letters: r. Private to "r": -. Private to "Ry": y.

"r" · 1 letters · shape C  ·  "Ry" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "r" and "Ry" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "r" is a character and "Ry" a symbol, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "r" or "Ry"?
"r" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #637 in our French list, against #48,773 for "Ry". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list