robevsroiWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,147
“robe” frequency rank
#547
“roi” frequency rank
2694
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature robe roi
Definition Vêtement long, en forme de fourreau plus ou moins ample, qui enveloppe le corps, tient aux épaules et a des manches ou des ouvertures pour les bras. Titre porté par celui qui règne sur un peuple, un État, en particulier un État monarchique, et qui tient sa fonction de l’hérédité ou de l’élection ; celui qui est à la tête d’un royaume.

Where the eye mixes robe and roi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
robe
3 ch
roi

Visual trap between robe and roi

A purely visual mix-up. robe (\ʁɔb\) and roi (\ʁwa\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2694, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

robe is recorded at frequency rank #2,147, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁɔb\. roi is at rank #547, 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 2694, this pair ranks #435,646 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of robe vs roi

Shared letters: or. Private to "robe": be. Private to "roi": i.

"robe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "roi" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • roberboe · robbe · roeb · rrobe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "robe" for "roi" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁɔb\ versus \ʁwa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "robe" or "roi"?
"roi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #547 in our French list, against #2,147 for "robe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "robe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "roi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #435,646 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "robe" and "roi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "robe vs roya". 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 #435,646 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