ratéesvsraterWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ratées is a adjective, rater is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#37,024
“ratées” frequency rank
#6,018
“rater” frequency rank
43042
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ratées rater
Definition Féminin pluriel de raté. Ne pas partir, en parlant d’une arme à feu.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ratées and rater apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
ratées
5 ch
rater

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: ratées and rater carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁa.te\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43042, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ratées is recorded at frequency rank #37,024, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁa.te\. rater is at rank #6,018, 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 43042, this pair ranks #221,062 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ratées vs rater

Shared letters: aert. Private to "ratées": . Private to "rater": -.

"ratées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "rater" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raterarter · raetr · raterr · ratre · ratter · rrater · rtaer

Frequency comparison

ratées#37,024
rater#6,018

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ratées" and "rater" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ratées" is an adjective and "rater" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ratées" or "rater"?
"rater" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,018 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 ratées vs rater

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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