Which to use
“ratée” and “rites” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,989
- “ratée” frequency rank
- #13,249
- “rites” frequency rank
- 29238
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ratée | rites |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Femme qui n’a pas réussi dans une entreprise, dans une démarche, dans sa vie, etc. | Pluriel de rite. |
Where the eye mixes ratée and rites
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between ratée and rites
A purely visual mix-up. ratée (\ʁa.te\) and rites (\ʁit\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29238, 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\. rites is at rank #13,249, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁit\.
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 29238, this pair ranks #317,910 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ratée vs rites
Shared letters: ert. Private to "ratée": aé. Private to "rites": is.
"ratée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "rites" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- rites ← irtes · riets · ritess · ritse · rittes · rrites · rties
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ratée" for "rites" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ratée" or "rites"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ratée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rites" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #317,910 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ratée" and "rites" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "râles vs ratée". 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 #317,910 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.