rasésvsraysWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: rasés is a verb, rays is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rasés” is a verb and “rays” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,673
“rasés” frequency rank
#38,501
“rays” frequency rank
74174
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rasés rays
Definition Participe passé masculin pluriel de raser. Pluriel de ray.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set rasés and rays apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
rasés
4 ch
rays

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rasés is \ʁa.ze\ while rays is \ʁɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74174, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rasés is recorded at frequency rank #35,673, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁa.ze\. rays is at rank #38,501, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁɛ\.

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 74174, this pair ranks #37,995 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rasés vs rays

Shared letters: ars. Private to "rasés": é. Private to "rays": y.

"rasés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "rays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raysarys · rasy · rayss · rayys · rrays · ryas

Frequency comparison

rasés#35,673
rays#38,501

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rasés" and "rays" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rasés" is a verb and "rays" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rasés" or "rays"?
"rasés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,673 in our French list, against #38,501 for "rays". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering rasés vs rays

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “rasés”; for a noun, it's “rays”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “rasés” 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