rubanvsrunTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,400
“ruban” frequency rank
#9,908
“run” frequency rank
20308
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ruban run
Definition Bande étroite de tissu qui est plate et mince. Nom de l’étendue de pâturages, en Australie, accordée aux propriétaires de troupeaux de moutons.

Where the eye mixes ruban and run

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
ruban
3 ch
run

Visual trap between ruban and run

A purely visual mix-up. ruban (\ʁy.bɑ̃\) and run (\ʁœn\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20308, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ruban is recorded at frequency rank #10,400, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁy.bɑ̃\. run is at rank #9,908, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁœn\.

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 20308, this pair ranks #368,926 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ruban vs run

Shared letters: nru. Private to "ruban": ab. Private to "run": -.

"ruban" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "run" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rubanrbuan · rruban · ruabn · rubann · rubban · rubna

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ruban" and "run" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁy.bɑ̃\ versus \ʁœn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ruban" or "run"?
"run" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,908 in our French list, against #10,400 for "ruban". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "ruban" and "run" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ruban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "run" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #368,926 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ruban" and "run" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rog vs run". 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 #368,926 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