raisvsrankWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#37,509
“rais” frequency rank
#43,626
“rank” frequency rank
81135
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rais rank
Definition Ancienne orthographe de rai, figurant au Dictionnaire de l'Académie française jusqu’en 1878. Mince, svelte.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set rais and rank apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
rais
4 ch
rank

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rais is \ʁɛ\ while rank is \ʁaŋk\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81135, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rais is recorded at frequency rank #37,509, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁɛ\. rank is at rank #43,626, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁaŋk\.

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 81135, this pair ranks #19,409 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rais vs rank

Shared letters: ar. Private to "rais": is. Private to "rank": kn.

"rais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "rank" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raisraiss · rasi · rias · rrais
  • rankarnk · rakn · rankk · rannk · rnak · rrank

Frequency comparison

rais#37,509
rank#43,626

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rais" and "rank" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rais" is a noun and "rank" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rais" or "rank"?
"rais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,509 in our French list, against #43,626 for "rank". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering rais vs rank

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “rais”; for an adjective, it's “rank”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “rais” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list