ratéevsrteConfusable pair

Which to use

“ratée” and “rte” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,989
“ratée” frequency rank
#27,606
“rte” frequency rank
43595
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ratée rte
Definition Femme qui n’a pas réussi dans une entreprise, dans une démarche, dans sa vie, etc. Route.

Where the eye mixes ratée and rte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
ratée
3 ch
rte

Look-alike desk: ratée vs rte

A purely visual mix-up. ratée (\ʁa.te\) and rte (\ʁut\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43595, 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\. rte is at rank #27,606, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁut\.

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 43595, this pair ranks #216,869 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ratée vs rte

Shared letters: ert. Private to "ratée": . Private to "rte": -.

"ratée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "rte" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ratée" and "rte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁa.te\ versus \ʁut\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "ratée" or "rte" show up more?
"ratée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,989 in our French list, against #27,606 for "rte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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 "rte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #216,869 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ratée" and "rte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rog vs rte". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #216,869 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list