robevsrotWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,147
“robe” frequency rank
#34,730
“rot” frequency rank
36877
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature robe rot
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. Émission par la bouche, et avec bruit, de gaz stomacaux.

Where the eye mixes robe and rot

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

4 ch
robe
3 ch
rot

Visual trap between robe and rot

A purely visual mix-up. robe (\ʁɔb\) and rot (\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 36877, 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\. rot is at rank #34,730, 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 36877, this pair ranks #266,497 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of robe vs rot

Shared letters: or. Private to "robe": be. Private to "rot": t.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • roberboe · robbe · roeb · rrobe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "robe" and "rot" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁɔb\ versus \ʁo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "robe" or "rot"?
"robe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,147 in our French list, against #34,730 for "rot". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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 "rot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #266,497 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "robe" and "rot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rot 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 #266,497 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