rabaisvsrabbitWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“rabais” and “rabbit” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,034
“rabais” frequency rank
#31,668
“rabbit” frequency rank
43702
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rabais rabbit
Definition Acte par lequel un vendeur consent une diminution sur le prix d’un objet ou sur la rémunération d’un travail. Lapin, nom générique de plusieurs genres de lagomorphes.

Where the eye mixes rabais and rabbit

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. rabais (CVCVVC) and rabbit (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
rabais
6 ch
rabbit

Why the eye confuses rabais with rabbit

A purely visual mix-up. rabais (\ʁa.bɛ\) and rabbit (\ˈɹæb.ɪt\) 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 43702, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rabais is recorded at frequency rank #12,034, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁa.bɛ\. rabbit is at rank #31,668, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈɹæb.ɪt\.

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 43702, this pair ranks #216,092 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rabais vs rabbit

Shared letters: abir. Private to "rabais": s. Private to "rabbit": t.

"rabais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "rabbit" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rabais ← arbais · raabis · rabaiss · rabasi · rabbais · rabias · rbaais · rrabais
  • rabbit ← arbbit · rabbitt · rabbti · rabibt · rabit · rbabit · rrabbit

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rabais" for "rabbit" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁa.bɛ\ versus \ˈɹæb.ɪt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "rabais" or "rabbit" show up more?
"rabais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,034 in our French list, against #31,668 for "rabbit". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "rabais" and "rabbit" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rabais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rabbit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #216,092 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rabais" and "rabbit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rabbit vs rabot". 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 #216,092 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list