Which to use
“raison” and “ration” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #259
- “raison” frequency rank
- #19,645
- “ration” frequency rank
- 19904
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | raison | ration |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Faculté intellectuelle par laquelle l’homme connaît, juge et se conduit ; entendement. | Portion journalière soit de pain, soit d’autres vivres, soit de fourrage, qui se distribue aux soldats ou aux marins. |
Where the eye mixes raison and ration
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. raison (CVVCVC) and ration (CVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses raison with ration
A purely visual mix-up. raison (\ʁɛ.zɔ̃\) and ration (\ʁa.sjɔ̃\) 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 19904, 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\. ration is at rank #19,645, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁa.sjɔ̃\.
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 19904, this pair ranks #370,938 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of raison vs ration
Shared letters: ainor. Private to "raison": s. Private to "ration": t.
"raison" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "ration" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "raison" for "ration" ever safe?
Frequency check: "raison" vs "ration" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "ration" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #370,938 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "raison" and "ration" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "radon vs ration". 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 #370,938 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.