Which to use
“radeau” and “râteau” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,207
- “radeau” frequency rank
- #33,452
- “râteau” frequency rank
- 60659
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | radeau | râteau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Assemblage de pièces de bois qui sont liées ensemble et qui forment une sorte de plancher flottant. | Outil constitué d’un manche et d’une barre garnie de dents en fer ou en bois, utilisé pour regrouper des choses dispersées sur le sol (feuilles mortes, gravillons, terre) et pour égaliser un terrain. |
Where the eye mixes radeau and râteau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. radeau and râteau follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between radeau and râteau
A purely visual mix-up. radeau (\ʁa.do\) and râteau (\ʁɑ.to\) 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 60659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
radeau is recorded at frequency rank #27,207, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁa.do\. râteau is at rank #33,452, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁɑ.to\.
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 60659, this pair ranks #96,471 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of radeau vs râteau
Shared letters: aeru. Private to "radeau": d. Private to "râteau": tâ.
"radeau" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV · "râteau" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- radeau ← ardeau · radaeu · raddeau · radeua · raedau · rdaeau · rradeau
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "radeau" and "râteau" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "radeau" vs "râteau" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "radeau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "râteau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #96,471 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "radeau" and "râteau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "radeau vs radial". 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 #96,471 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.