Which to use
“rôles” and “rule” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,622
- “rôles” frequency rank
- #39,521
- “rule” frequency rank
- 44143
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rôles | rule |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de rôle. | Règle (ordre). |
Where the eye mixes rôles and rule
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: rôles vs rule
A purely visual mix-up. rôles (\ʁol\) and rule (\ɹuːl\) 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 44143, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rôles is recorded at frequency rank #4,622, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁol\. rule is at rank #39,521, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɹuːl\.
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 44143, this pair ranks #212,732 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of rôles vs rule
Shared letters: elr. Private to "rôles": sô. Private to "rule": u.
"rôles" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "rule" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- rule ← rlue · rrule · ruel · rulle · urle
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "rôles" and "rule" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "rôles" vs "rule" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "rôles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #212,732 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rôles" and "rule" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "râles vs rule". 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 #212,732 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.