Which to use
“râles” and “rolls” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,774
- “râles” frequency rank
- #22,078
- “rolls” frequency rank
- 70852
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | râles | rolls |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de râle. | Pluriel de roll. |
Where the eye mixes râles and rolls
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. râles (CVCVC) and rolls (CVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses râles with rolls
A purely visual mix-up. râles (\ʁɑl\) and rolls (\rɔl\) 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 70852, 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\. rolls is at rank #22,078, tagged as anoun, pronounced \rɔl\.
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 70852, this pair ranks #49,736 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of râles vs rolls
Shared letters: lrs. Private to "râles": eâ. Private to "rolls": o.
"râles" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "rolls" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- rolls ← orlls · rlols · rollss · rols · rolsl · rrolls
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "râles" for "rolls" ever safe?
Which is more common, "râles" or "rolls"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "râles" and "rolls" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "râles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rolls" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,736 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "râles" and "rolls" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "râles vs rasées". 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 #49,736 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.