raevsReConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#29,933
“rae” frequency rank
#2,641
“Re” frequency rank
32574
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rae Re
Definition Grêle, grêlon. Taux effectif de transmission d’une maladie.

Where the eye mixes rae and Re

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
rae
2 ch
Re

Visual trap between rae and Re

A purely visual mix-up. rae (\ˈrɑ.e\) and Re (\ɛ.ʁœ\) 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 32574, 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\. Re is at rank #2,641, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ.ʁœ\.

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 32574, this pair ranks #296,377 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rae vs Re

Shared letters: er. Private to "rae": a. Private to "Re": -.

"rae" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "Re" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rae" for "Re" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ˈrɑ.e\ versus \ɛ.ʁœ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rae" or "Re"?
"Re" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,641 in our French list, against #29,933 for "rae". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rae" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Re" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #296,377 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rae" and "Re" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rae vs RAMQ". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #296,377 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