Which to use
“raids” and “rays” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,673
- “raids” frequency rank
- #38,501
- “rays” frequency rank
- 52174
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | raids | rays |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de raid. | Pluriel de ray. |
Where the eye mixes raids and rays
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: raids vs rays
A purely visual mix-up. raids (\ʁɛd\) and rays (\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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52174, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
raids is recorded at frequency rank #13,673, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁɛd\. rays is at rank #38,501, 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 52174, this pair ranks #149,581 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of raids vs rays
Shared letters: ars. Private to "raids": di. Private to "rays": y.
"raids" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "rays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "raids" and "rays" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "raids" vs "rays" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "raids" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rays" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #149,581 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "raids" and "rays" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rays vs roya". 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 #149,581 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.