rayévsroyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: rayé is a adjective, roy is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rayé” is an adjective and “roy” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,981
“rayé” frequency rank
#3,220
“roy” frequency rank
20201
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rayé roy
Definition Qui a des raies. De 1694 à 1740 : Orthographe de l’Académie française de roi.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set rayé and roy apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
rayé
3 ch
roy

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rayé is \ʁɛ.je\ while roy is \ʁwa\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20201, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rayé is recorded at frequency rank #16,981, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁɛ.je\. roy is at rank #3,220, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁwa\.

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 20201, this pair ranks #369,476 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rayé vs roy

Shared letters: ry. Private to "rayé": . Private to "roy": o.

"rayé" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "roy" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

rayé#16,981
roy#3,220

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rayé" and "roy" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rayé" is an adjective and "roy" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rayé" or "roy"?
"roy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,220 in our French list, against #16,981 for "rayé". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering rayé vs roy

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “rayé”; for a noun, it's “roy”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “rayé” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list