Français homophones

reus/ru/rue/rues/rus

"reus" is a verb; "ru" is a noun - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #101 of 9,139 French groups.

Data vintage 2026-05-06

Grammar picks the spelling

Same sound, different grammar: "reus" arrives as a verb, while "ru" is a noun. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

No shared spelling stem: "reus" is 4 letters, "ru" is 2; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "reus" is 4 letters, "rue" is 3; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "reus" is 4 letters, "rues" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "reus" is 4 letters, "rus" is 3; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "ru" then splits - "ru" (2 letters) vs "rue" (3).
Shared stem "ru" then splits - "ru" (2 letters) vs "rues" (4).
Shared stem "ru" then splits - "ru" (2 letters) vs "rus" (3).
Shared stem "rue" then splits - "rue" (3 letters) vs "rues" (4).
Single-letter fork: "rue" keeps e, "rus" writes s at letter 3.
Shared stem "ru" then splits - "rues" (4 letters) vs "rus" (3).

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across reus, ru, rue, rues, rus: ru. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

reus
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVC
Inventory ersu · private es
ru
2 letters · 1 vowels · shape CV
Inventory ru · no private letters vs siblings
rue
3 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVV
Inventory eru · private e
rues
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVC
Inventory ersu · private es
rus
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory rsu · private s

Pick the spelling from the meaning

Write "reus" when you mean: Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif passé simple du verbe ravoir.
Write "ru" when you mean: Petit ruisseau.
Write "rue" when you mean: Voie de circulation d'une ville, d'un bourg, d'un village, etc., généralement bordée de maisons ou de propriétés closes.
Write "rues" when you mean: Pluriel de rue (voie).
Write "rus" when you mean: Pluriel de ru.

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

reus ← erus · resu · rreus
rues ← rrues · ruess · ures

Each spelling

reus

verb · /\ʁy\/ · #38,513 frequency

Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif passé simple du verbe ravoir.

noun · /\ʁy\/ · #16,467 frequency

Petit ruisseau.

rue

noun · /\ʁy\/ · #438 frequency

Voie de circulation d'une ville, d'un bourg, d'un village, etc., généralement bordée de maisons ou de propriétés closes.

rues

noun · /\ʁy\/ · #2,056 frequency

Pluriel de rue (voie).

rus

noun · /\ʁy\/ · #37,537 frequency

Pluriel de ru.