Which to use
“ratée” is a noun and “ratés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,989
- “ratée” frequency rank
- #16,980
- “ratés” frequency rank
- 32969
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ratée | ratés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Femme qui n’a pas réussi dans une entreprise, dans une démarche, dans sa vie, etc. | Masculin pluriel de raté. |
Same sound, different letters: ratée vs ratés
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - ratée and ratés
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: ratée and ratés 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 a single letter - e in “ratée” becomes s in “ratés”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32969, 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\. ratés is at rank #16,980, 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 32969, this pair ranks #293,746 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ratée vs ratés
Shared letters: arté. Private to "ratée": e. Private to "ratés": s.
"ratée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "ratés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ratée" for "ratés" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "ratée" or "ratés" show up more?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "ratée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ratés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #293,746 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ratée" and "ratés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "râles vs ratés". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #293,746 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.