Which to use
“roll” and “rule” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,239
- “roll” frequency rank
- #39,521
- “rule” frequency rank
- 54760
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | roll | rule |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chariot à quatre roulettes fermé par des grilles servant à transporter des marchandises. | Règle (ordre). |
Where the eye mixes roll and rule
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between roll and rule
A purely visual mix-up. roll (\rɔl\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54760, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
roll is recorded at frequency rank #15,239, classified as anoun, pronounced \rɔl\. 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 54760, this pair ranks #131,870 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of roll vs rule
Shared letters: lr. Private to "roll": o. Private to "rule": eu.
"roll" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "rule" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "roll" for "rule" ever safe?
Which is more common, "roll" or "rule"?
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 "roll" 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 #131,870 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "roll" 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 #131,870 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.