Which to use
“rachis” and “radis” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,307
- “rachis” frequency rank
- #29,099
- “radis” frequency rank
- 78406
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rachis | radis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Empilement de 33 ou 34 vertèbres, qui forment le support du dos des vertébrés et sur certaines desquelles sont fixées les côtes. | Légume potager du genre Raphanus (famille des Brassicaceae), dont la racine est comestible. |
Where the eye mixes rachis and radis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. rachis runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against radis's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: rachis vs radis
A purely visual mix-up. rachis (\ʁa.ʃis\) and radis (\ʁa.di\) 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 78406, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rachis is recorded at frequency rank #49,307, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁa.ʃis\. radis is at rank #29,099, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁa.di\.
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 78406, this pair ranks #25,838 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of rachis vs radis
Shared letters: airs. Private to "rachis": ch. Private to "radis": d.
"rachis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "radis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "rachis" for "radis" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "rachis" or "radis" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "rachis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "radis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #25,838 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rachis" and "radis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rachis vs rais". 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 #25,838 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.