ratentvsravenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ratent is a verb, raven is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ratent” is a verb and “raven” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,558
“ratent” frequency rank
#24,353
“raven” frequency rank
60911
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ratent raven
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de rater. Corbeau.

Where the eye mixes ratent and raven

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
ratent
5 ch
raven

Why the eye confuses ratent with raven

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ratent is \ʁat\ while raven is \ˈɹeɪ.vən\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60911, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ratent is recorded at frequency rank #36,558, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁat\. raven is at rank #24,353, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈɹeɪ.vən\.

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 60911, this pair ranks #95,142 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ratent vs raven

Shared letters: aenr. Private to "ratent": t. Private to "raven": v.

"ratent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "raven" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ratentartent · raetnt · ratennt · ratentt · ratetn · ratnet · rattent · rratent
  • ravenarven · raevn · ravenn · ravne · ravven · rraven · rvaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ratent" and "raven" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ratent" is a verb and "raven" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ratent" or "raven"?
"raven" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,353 in our French list, against #36,558 for "ratent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ratent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "raven" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #95,142 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ratent" and "raven" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ratent vs rement". 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 #95,142 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