race vs reach, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#2,098
“race” frequency rank: #37,998
“reach” frequency rank: 40096
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	race	reach
Definition	Lignée ; ensemble des ascendants et des descendants d’une même famille.	Pourcentage de cible ayant été touchée par une campagne marketing.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set race and reach apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

race

5 ch

reach

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. race (\ʁas\) and reach (\ʁitʃ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40096, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

race is recorded at frequency rank #2,098, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁas\. reach is at rank #37,998, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁitʃ\.

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 40096, this pair ranks #243,071 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of race vs reach

Shared letters: acer. Private to "race": -. Private to "reach": h.

"race" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "reach" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

race ← arce · racce · raec · rcae · rrace
reach ← erach · raech · reacch · reachh · reahc · recah · rreach

Frequency comparison

race#2,098

reach#37,998

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "race" and "reach" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\ʁas\ versus \ʁitʃ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "race" or "reach"?

"race" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,098 in our French list, against #37,998 for "reach". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering race vs reach

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “race” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable