Which to use
“ravage” and “rouage” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,467
- “ravage” frequency rank
- #39,518
- “rouage” frequency rank
- 64985
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ravage | rouage |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de ravager. | Élément de roue. |
Where the eye mixes ravage and rouage
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ravage (CVCVCV) and rouage (CVVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses ravage with rouage
A purely visual mix-up. ravage (\ʁa.vaʒ\) and rouage (\ʁwaʒ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64985, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ravage is recorded at frequency rank #25,467, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁa.vaʒ\. rouage is at rank #39,518, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁwaʒ\.
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 64985, this pair ranks #74,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ravage vs rouage
Shared letters: aegr. Private to "ravage": v. Private to "rouage": ou.
"ravage" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "rouage" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ravage" and "rouage" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ravage" or "rouage"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "ravage" and "rouage" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ravage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rouage" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #74,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ravage" and "rouage" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rouage vs rouble". 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 #74,427 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.