risquévsroqueWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#8,031
“risqué” frequency rank
#30,785
“roque” frequency rank
38816
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature risqué roque
Definition Qui présente un risque certain. Mouvement du jeu d’échecs où le roi et une tour bougent en un seul coup : le roi va de 2 cases vers la tour et la tour saute le roi et se met sur la case juste à côté. Pour faire ce coup, il faut :

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set risqué and roque apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
risqué
5 ch
roque

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

risqué and roque form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38816, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

risqué is recorded at frequency rank #8,031, classified as anadj. roque is at rank #30,785, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁɔk\.

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 38816, this pair ranks #252,586 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Frequency comparison

risqué#8,031
roque#30,785

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "risqué" and "roque" be used interchangeably?
No, "risqué" and "roque" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering risqué vs roque

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “risqué”; for a noun, it's “roque”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “risqué” 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