raté vs râteau, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#3,217
“raté” frequency rank: #33,452
“râteau” frequency rank: 36669
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	raté	râteau
Definition	Qui a raté, qui a échoué, qui n’a pas atteint son but.	Outil constitué d’un manche et d’une barre garnie de dents en fer ou en bois, utilisé pour regrouper des choses dispersées sur le sol (feuilles mortes, gravillons, terre) et pour égaliser un terrain.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch

raté

6 ch

râteau

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: raté is \ʁa.te\ while râteau is \ʁɑ.to\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36669, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

raté is recorded at frequency rank #3,217, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁa.te\. râteau is at rank #33,452, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁɑ.to\.

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 36669, this pair ranks #267,991 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of raté vs râteau

Shared letters: art. Private to "raté": é. Private to "râteau": euâ.

"raté" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "râteau" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV

Frequency comparison

raté#3,217

râteau#33,452

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "raté" and "râteau" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "raté" is an adjective and "râteau" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "raté" or "râteau"?

"raté" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,217 in our French list, against #33,452 for "râteau". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering raté vs râteau

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “raté”; for a noun, it's “râteau”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “raté” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable