Which to use
“râteau” is a noun and “ratées” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,452
- “râteau” frequency rank
- #37,024
- “ratées” frequency rank
- 70476
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | râteau | ratées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Féminin pluriel de raté. |
Where the eye mixes râteau and ratées
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. râteau (CVCVVV) and ratées (CVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses râteau with ratées
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: râteau is \ʁɑ.to\ while ratées is \ʁa.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70476, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
râteau is recorded at frequency rank #33,452, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁɑ.to\. ratées is at rank #37,024, tagged as anadj, 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 70476, this pair ranks #51,196 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of râteau vs ratées
Shared letters: aert. Private to "râteau": uâ. Private to "ratées": sé.
"râteau" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV · "ratées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "râteau" for "ratées" ever safe?
Which is more common, "râteau" or "ratées"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "râteau" and "ratées" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "râteau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ratées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #51,196 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "râteau" and "ratées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "râles vs ratées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #51,196 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.