Which to use
“rubis” and “runes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,143
- “rubis” frequency rank
- #40,477
- “runes” frequency rank
- 59620
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rubis | runes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pierre précieuse très dure, transparente et d’un rouge plus ou moins vif. Sa formule chimique est Al₂O₃:Cr. | Pluriel de rune. |
Where the eye mixes rubis and runes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. rubis and runes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses rubis with runes
A purely visual mix-up. rubis (\ʁy.bi\) and runes (\ʁyn\) 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 59620, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rubis is recorded at frequency rank #19,143, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁy.bi\. runes is at rank #40,477, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁyn\.
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 59620, this pair ranks #102,138 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of rubis vs runes
Shared letters: rsu. Private to "rubis": bi. Private to "runes": en.
"rubis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "runes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "rubis" for "runes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "rubis" or "runes"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "rubis" and "runes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "rubis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "runes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #102,138 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rubis" and "runes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "râles vs runes". 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 #102,138 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.