ratéevsratéesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ratée is a noun, ratées is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#15,989
“ratée” frequency rank
#37,024
“ratées” frequency rank
53013
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ratée ratées
Definition Femme qui n’a pas réussi dans une entreprise, dans une démarche, dans sa vie, etc. Féminin pluriel de raté.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ratée and ratées apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
ratée
6 ch
ratées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: ratée and ratées carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁa.te\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “ratée” sits inside “ratées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53013, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ratée is recorded at frequency rank #15,989, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁa.te\. 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 53013, this pair ranks #143,689 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ratée vs ratées

Shared letters: aerté. Private to "ratée": -. Private to "ratées": s.

"ratée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "ratées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Frequency comparison

ratée#15,989
ratées#37,024

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ratée" and "ratées" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ratée" is a noun and "ratées" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ratée" or "ratées"?
"ratée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,989 in our French list, against #37,024 for "ratées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ratée vs ratées

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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