Which to use
“rançon” and “ration” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,545
- “rançon” frequency rank
- #19,645
- “ration” frequency rank
- 34190
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rançon | ration |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Portion journalière soit de pain, soit d’autres vivres, soit de fourrage, qui se distribue aux soldats ou aux marins. |
Where the eye mixes rançon and ration
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: rançon vs ration
A purely visual mix-up. rançon (\ʁɑ̃.sɔ̃\) 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 34190, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rançon is recorded at frequency rank #14,545, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁɑ̃.sɔ̃\. 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 34190, this pair ranks #285,534 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of rançon vs ration
Shared letters: anor. Private to "rançon": ç. Private to "ration": it.
"rançon" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "ration" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ration ← artion · raiton · ratino · rationn · ratoin · rattion · rration · rtaion
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "rançon" and "ration" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "rançon" or "ration"?
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 "rançon" 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 #285,534 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rançon" 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 #285,534 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.