Which to use
“raison” and “rançon” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #259
- “raison” frequency rank
- #14,545
- “rançon” frequency rank
- 14804
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | raison | rançon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Faculté intellectuelle par laquelle l’homme connaît, juge et se conduit ; entendement. | Prix exigé pour la délivrance d’un captif ou d’un prisonnier de guerre, ou pour relâcher un vaisseau de guerre, ou débloquer un système informatique piraté, etc. |
Where the eye mixes raison and rançon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: raison vs rançon
A purely visual mix-up. raison (\ʁɛ.zɔ̃\) and rançon (\ʁɑ̃.sɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14804, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
raison is recorded at frequency rank #259, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁɛ.zɔ̃\. rançon is at rank #14,545, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁɑ̃.sɔ̃\.
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 14804, this pair ranks #395,154 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of raison vs rançon
Shared letters: anor. Private to "raison": is. Private to "rançon": ç.
"raison" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "rançon" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- raison ← arison · raiosn · raisno · raisonn · raisson · rasion · riason · rraison
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "raison" and "rançon" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "raison" vs "rançon" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "raison" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rançon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #395,154 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "raison" and "rançon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "radon vs rançon". 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 #395,154 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.