Which to use
“ration” and “relation” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,645
- “ration” frequency rank
- #1,041
- “relation” frequency rank
- 20686
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ration | relation |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Portion journalière soit de pain, soit d’autres vivres, soit de fourrage, qui se distribue aux soldats ou aux marins. | Lien, rapport d’une chose à une autre. |
Where the eye mixes ration and relation
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ration with relation
A purely visual mix-up. ration (\ʁa.sjɔ̃\) and relation (\ʁə.la.sjɔ̃\) 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 20686, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ration is recorded at frequency rank #19,645, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁa.sjɔ̃\. relation is at rank #1,041, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.la.sjɔ̃\.
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 20686, this pair ranks #367,025 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ration vs relation
Shared letters: ainort. Private to "ration": -. Private to "relation": el.
"ration" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "relation" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ration" for "relation" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ration" vs "relation" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ration" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "relation" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #367,025 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ration" and "relation" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "radon vs ration". 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 #367,025 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.