robevsrosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,147
“robe” frequency rank
#41,507
“ros” frequency rank
43654
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature robe ros
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. Peigne placé sur le battant du métier à tisser et entre les dents duquel on place un ou plusieurs fils de chaîne.

Where the eye mixes robe and ros

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

4 ch
robe
3 ch
ros

Visual trap between robe and ros

A purely visual mix-up. robe (\ʁɔb\) and ros (\ʁo\) 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 43654, 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\. ros is at rank #41,507, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁo\.

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 43654, this pair ranks #216,404 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of robe vs ros

Shared letters: or. Private to "robe": be. Private to "ros": s.

"robe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "ros" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • roberboe · robbe · roeb · rrobe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "robe" for "ros" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁɔb\ versus \ʁo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "robe" vs "ros" - which ranks higher?
"robe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,147 in our French list, against #41,507 for "ros". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "ros" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #216,404 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "robe" and "ros" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ros 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 #216,404 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