racevsrieWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: race is a noun, rie is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“race” is a noun and “rie” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,098
“race” frequency rank
#19,393
“rie” frequency rank
21491
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature race rie
Definition Lignée ; ensemble des ascendants et des descendants d’une même famille. Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de rire.

Where the eye mixes race and rie

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
race
3 ch
rie

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: race is \ʁas\ while rie is \ʁi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21491, 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\. rie is at rank #19,393, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁi\.

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 21491, this pair ranks #362,911 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of race vs rie

Shared letters: er. Private to "race": ac. Private to "rie": i.

"race" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "rie" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • racearce · racce · raec · rcae · rrace

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "race" and "rie" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "race" is a noun and "rie" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "race" or "rie"?
"race" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,098 in our French list, against #19,393 for "rie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list