raevsrayéeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: rae is a noun, rayée is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rae” is a noun and “rayée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,933
“rae” frequency rank
#34,275
“rayée” frequency rank
64208
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rae rayée
Definition Grêle, grêlon. Féminin singulier de rayé.

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch
rae
5 ch
rayée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rae is \ˈrɑ.e\ while rayée is \ʁɛ.je\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64208, 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\. rayée is at rank #34,275, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁɛ.je\.

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 64208, this pair ranks #78,164 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rae vs rayée

Shared letters: aer. Private to "rae": -. Private to "rayée": .

"rae" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "rayée" · 5 letters · shape CVVVV

Frequency comparison

rae#29,933
rayée#34,275

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rae" and "rayée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rae" is a noun and "rayée" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rae" or "rayée"?
"rae" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,933 in our French list, against #34,275 for "rayée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering rae vs rayée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “rae”; for an adjective, it's “rayée”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “rae” 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