Which to use
“rae” and “ray” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,933
- “rae” frequency rank
- #4,886
- “ray” frequency rank
- 34819
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rae | ray |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Grêle, grêlon. | Culture sur brûlis en Asie. |
Where the eye mixes rae and ray
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: rae vs ray
A purely visual mix-up. rae (\ˈrɑ.e\) and ray (\ʁɛ\) 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 a single letter - e in “rae” becomes y in “ray”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34819, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rae is recorded at frequency rank #29,933, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈrɑ.e\. ray is at rank #4,886, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁɛ\.
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 34819, this pair ranks #281,109 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of rae vs ray
Shared letters: ar. Private to "rae": e. Private to "ray": y.
"rae" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "ray" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "rae" for "ray" ever safe?
Which is more common, "rae" or "ray"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "rae" and "ray" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "rae" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ray" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #281,109 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rae" and "ray" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rae vs RAMQ". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #281,109 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.