rohvsrouWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: roh is a intj, rou is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“roh” is an intj and “rou” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,371
“roh” frequency rank
#48,169
“rou” frequency rank
72540
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature roh rou
Definition Marque l’agacement, voire l’exaspération. Synonyme de rohu (poisson).

Where the eye mixes roh and rou

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

3 ch
roh
3 ch
rou

Look-alike desk: roh vs rou

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: roh is \ʁo\ while rou is \ʁu\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - h in “roh” becomes u in “rou”, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72540, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

roh is recorded at frequency rank #24,371, classified as anintj, pronounced \ʁo\. rou is at rank #48,169, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁu\.

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 72540, this pair ranks #43,671 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of roh vs rou

Shared letters: or. Private to "roh": h. Private to "rou": u.

"roh" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "rou" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "roh" and "rou" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "roh" is an intj and "rou" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "roh" or "rou"?
"roh" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,371 in our French list, against #48,169 for "rou". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "roh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,671 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "roh" and "rou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rou vs roya". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #43,671 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