racléevsrâleTell them apart

Which to use

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

#32,546
“raclée” frequency rank
#18,052
“râle” frequency rank
50598
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature raclée râle
Definition Coups répétés portés à une personne ou à un animal. Bruit rauque produit par la respiration quand elle est embarrassée, particulièrement chez les agonisants.

Where the eye mixes raclée and râle

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. raclée runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against râle's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
raclée
4 ch
râle

Look-alike desk: raclée vs râle

A purely visual mix-up. raclée (\ʁɑ.kle\) and râle (\ʁal\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50598, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

raclée is recorded at frequency rank #32,546, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁɑ.kle\. râle is at rank #18,052, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁal\.

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 50598, this pair ranks #161,406 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of raclée vs râle

Shared letters: elr. Private to "raclée": acé. Private to "râle": â.

"raclée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "râle" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "raclée" for "râle" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁɑ.kle\ versus \ʁal\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "raclée" vs "râle" - which ranks higher?
"râle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,052 in our French list, against #32,546 for "raclée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "raclée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "râle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #161,406 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "raclée" and "râle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "raclée vs râles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #161,406 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