racevsRatWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“race” and “Rat” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,135
“race” frequency rank
#37,067
“Rat” frequency rank
49202
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature race Rat
Definition raça conselho

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set race and Rat apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
race
3 ch
Rat

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. race (/ɹeɪs/) and Rat (/raːt/) 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 49202, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

race is recorded at frequency rank #12,135, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹeɪs/. Rat is at rank #37,067, tagged as anoun, pronounced /raːt/.

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 49202, this pair ranks #15,858 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of race vs Rat

Shared letters: ar. Private to "race": ce. Private to "Rat": t.

"race" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Rat" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raceracce · raec · rcae · rrace

Frequency comparison

race#12,135
Rat#37,067

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "race" and "Rat" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɹeɪs/ versus /raːt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "race" or "Rat"?
"race" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,135 in our Portuguese list, against #37,067 for "Rat". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering race vs Rat

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “race” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list