Which to use
“râteau” is a noun and “ratez” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,452
- “râteau” frequency rank
- #30,769
- “ratez” frequency rank
- 64221
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | râteau | ratez |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de rater. |
Where the eye mixes râteau and ratez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. râteau runs 6 letters (CVCVVV) against ratez's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: râteau vs ratez
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: râteau is \ʁɑ.to\ while ratez is \ʁa.te\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64221, 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\. ratez is at rank #30,769, tagged as averb, 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 64221, this pair ranks #78,089 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of râteau vs ratez
Shared letters: aert. Private to "râteau": uâ. Private to "ratez": z.
"râteau" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV · "ratez" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ratez ← artez · raetz · ratezz · rattez · ratze · rratez · rtaez
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "râteau" and "ratez" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "râteau" or "ratez" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "râteau" and "ratez" 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 "ratez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #78,089 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "râteau" and "ratez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "râles vs ratez". 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 #78,089 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.