Which to use
“ray” and “roe” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,886
- “ray” frequency rank
- #47,003
- “roe” frequency rank
- 51889
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ray | roe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Culture sur brûlis en Asie. | Roue. |
Letter map: ray vs roe
Shared letters muted; letters that set ray and roe apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Pair insight - ray / roe
ray and roe are indexed as a confusable French pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51889, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ray is recorded at frequency rank #4,886, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁɛ\. roe is at rank #47,003, tagged as anoun.
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 51889, this pair ranks #151,708 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ray vs roe
Shared letters: r. Private to "ray": ay. Private to "roe": eo.
"ray" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "roe" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ray" and "roe" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "ray" vs "roe" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ray" and "roe".
- Full dictionary entry for "ray" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "roe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #151,708 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ray" and "roe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "roe vs roya". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #151,708 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.