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. |
Same sound, different letters: ratées vs rater
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. ratées runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against rater's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: ratées vs rater
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": sé. Private to "rater": -.
"ratées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "rater" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- rater ← arter · raetr · raterr · ratre · ratter · rrater · rtaer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ratées" for "rater" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ratées" or "rater"?
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 "ratées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rater" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #221,062 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ratées" and "rater" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "râles vs ratées". 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 #221,062 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.