razvsroyWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“raz” and “roy” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#21,750
“raz” frequency rank
#3,220
“roy” frequency rank
24970
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature raz roy
Definition Courant marin violent qui se fait sentir dans un détroit, dans un canal entre deux terres rapprochées. De 1694 à 1740 : Orthographe de l’Académie française de roi.

Where the eye mixes raz and roy

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
raz
3 ch
roy

Visual trap between raz and roy

A purely visual mix-up. raz (\ʁa\) and roy (\ʁwa\) 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 24970, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

raz is recorded at frequency rank #21,750, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁa\. 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 24970, this pair ranks #343,524 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of raz vs roy

Shared letters: r. Private to "raz": az. Private to "roy": oy.

"raz" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "roy" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "raz" and "roy" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁa\ versus \ʁwa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "raz" or "roy"?
"roy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,220 in our French list, against #21,750 for "raz". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "raz" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "roy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #343,524 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "raz" and "roy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "RAMQ vs raz". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #343,524 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