Which to use
“robe” and “rôle” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,147
- “robe” frequency rank
- #606
- “rôle” frequency rank
- 2753
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | robe | rôle |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Rouleau de papier, de parchemin, sur lequel on écrivait des actes, des titres. |
Where the eye mixes robe and rôle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between robe and rôle
A purely visual mix-up. robe (\ʁɔb\) and rôle (\ʁol\) 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 2753, 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\. rôle is at rank #606, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁol\.
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 2753, this pair ranks #435,546 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of robe vs rôle
Shared letters: er. Private to "robe": bo. Private to "rôle": lô.
"robe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "rôle" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- robe ← rboe · robbe · roeb · rrobe
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "robe" and "rôle" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "robe" or "rôle" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "robe" and "rôle" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "robe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rôle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #435,546 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "robe" and "rôle" 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 #435,546 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.