râlesvsratéeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“râles” and “ratée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,774
“râles” frequency rank
#15,989
“ratée” frequency rank
64763
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature râles ratée
Definition Pluriel de râle. Femme qui n’a pas réussi dans une entreprise, dans une démarche, dans sa vie, etc.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
râles
5 ch
ratée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. râles (\ʁɑl\) and ratée (\ʁa.te\) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64763, 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\. ratée is at rank #15,989, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁa.te\.

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 64763, this pair ranks #75,456 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of râles vs ratée

Shared letters: er. Private to "râles": lsâ. Private to "ratée": até.

"râles" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "ratée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Frequency comparison

râles#48,774
ratée#15,989

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "râles" and "ratée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁɑl\ versus \ʁa.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "râles" or "ratée"?
"ratée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,989 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.

Remembering râles vs ratée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “râles” 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