race · raise
race /reɪs/ · raise /reɪz/ — identical up to the last sound: voiceless /s/ vs voiced /z/. A competition of speed vs lifting something up.
Same vowel, different ending sound: race /reɪs/ (a competition of speed) vs raise /reɪz/ (to lift something up). The only difference is the very last sound — voiceless /s/ vs voiced /z/.
noun/verb — a competition to see who is fastest, OR a group of people classified together by shared ancestry — 'win the race' · 'people of many races'
mouth shape
diphthong /eɪ/ — then a voiceless /s/, just a hiss of air, no buzz
race
/reɪs/
vowel length
plays as: “win the race”
verb — to lift something up, or to increase it — 'raise your hand' · 'raise the price'
mouth shape
same diphthong /eɪ/ — then a voiced /z/, a buzzing sound in your throat
raise
/reɪz/
vowel length
plays as: “raise your hand”
Key difference
Put your fingers on your throat. race ends with no buzz at all — just air, a voiceless /s/, like the end of bus. raise ends with a clear buzz — a voiced /z/, like the end of buzz itself. Everything before that final sound — the /reɪ/ — is identical in both words.
“Race” has another meaning too
Besides a competition of speed, race is also used to describe a group of people classified together based on shared ancestry or physical characteristics (such as skin color) — a social and historical category, not a biological one in the way it was once assumed to be. “People of many races attended the event” uses this second sense, completely unrelated to running.
Example sentences
race:“She won the race by two seconds.”
race:“Let’s race to the corner!”
raise:“Please raise your hand if you have a question.”
raise:“My boss gave me a raise this year.”
Hear it in the wild
Real speech from native speakers — the most reliable way to check a pronunciation, since automated audio can vary by device and browser.
race
Hear native speakers say “race” in real sentences — news, lectures, and podcasts.
Opens YouTube-sourced clips in a new tab.
raise
Hear native speakers say “raise” in real sentences — news, lectures, and podcasts.
Opens YouTube-sourced clips in a new tab.
How teachers explain this
Approved tips from the community, sorted by helpfulness
Related pairs
Comments
Comments are reviewed before they appear publicly.