racervsravenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#44,665
“racer” frequency rank
#24,353
“raven” frequency rank
69018
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature racer raven
Definition Bateau de course à moteur. Corbeau.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
racer
5 ch
raven

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. racer (\ʁa.sœʁ\) and raven (\ˈɹeɪ.vən\) 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 69018, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

racer is recorded at frequency rank #44,665, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁa.sœʁ\. raven is at rank #24,353, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈɹeɪ.vən\.

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 69018, this pair ranks #56,806 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of racer vs raven

Shared letters: aer. Private to "racer": c. Private to "raven": nv.

"racer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "raven" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • racerarcer · raccer · racerr · racre · raecr · rcaer · rracer
  • ravenarven · raevn · ravenn · ravne · ravven · rraven · rvaen

Frequency comparison

racer#44,665
raven#24,353

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "racer" and "raven" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁa.sœʁ\ versus \ˈɹeɪ.vən\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "racer" or "raven"?
"raven" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,353 in our French list, against #44,665 for "racer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering racer vs raven

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 “racer” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list