râlesvsrasWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#48,774
“râles” frequency rank
#6,546
“ras” frequency rank
55320
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature râles ras
Definition Pluriel de râle. Qui a le poil très court, coupé tout près de la peau, en parlant d’un être vivant.

Where the eye mixes râles and ras

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

5 ch
râles
3 ch
ras

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: râles is \ʁɑl\ while ras is \ʁa\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55320, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

râles is recorded at frequency rank #48,774, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁɑl\. ras is at rank #6,546, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁa\.

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 55320, this pair ranks #128,206 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of râles vs ras

Shared letters: rs. Private to "râles": elâ. Private to "ras": a.

"râles" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "ras" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "râles" and "ras" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "râles" is a noun and "ras" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "râles" or "ras"?
"ras" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,546 in our French list, against #48,774 for "râles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list