rébus

\ʁe.by\

/\ʁe.by\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“rébus” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #47,013. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#47,013
frequency rank, French
5,742
“R” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Jeu d’esprit qui consiste à représenter un mot, un nom ou une phrase par des figures d’objets dont les noms offrent à l’oreille une ressemblance avec ce mot, ce nom, cette phrase.

Corpus desk

Index FR-rebus · rébus · French

rébus · rank #47,013 · 8 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #47,013
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,742
  • PHOTO-FINISH réalisons

Nearest frequency peer: réalisons (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « rébus »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « rébus » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

rébus vs res
40% similar
rébus vs rus
60% similar
rébus vs reçu
40% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for rébus
PropertyValue
Headwordrébus
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʁe.by\
Letters5
Frequency rank#47,013
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « rébus »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).rébusse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « réalisons » (#47,012), « récoltée » (#47,014), « Rune » (#47,011). Parmi 5,742 lemmes en « R », « rébus » est au #47,013. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around rébus (IPA \ʁe.by\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #47,013 among 5,742 “R” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for rébus, with forms such as "rbéus", "rebus", and "rrébus". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "res", "rus", "reçu", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is rébus, spelled R-É-B-U-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Jeu d’esprit qui consiste à représenter un mot, un nom ou une phrase par des figures d’objets dont les noms offrent à l’oreille une ressemblance avec ce mot, ce nom, cette phrase.
  2. 2
    Énigme.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how rébus appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Deviner des rébus.
  2. Non, capitaine. Allons à la Vieille Science. Une vieille qui scie une anse. C’est un rébus. J’aime cela.

This word in other languages

rebus(English)acertijo(Español)Rebus(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • rbéus
  • rebus
  • rrébus
  • rébbus
  • rébsu
  • rébuss
  • réubs
  • érbus

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of rébus - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

rbéus2rebus1rrébus1rébbus1rébsu2rébuss1réubs2érbus2
Edit distance from "rébus"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "rébus"?
"rébus" is spelled R-É-B-U-S. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁe.by\.
What does "rébus" mean?
As a noun, "rébus" means: Jeu d’esprit qui consiste à représenter un mot, un nom ou une phrase par des figures d’objets dont les noms offrent à l’oreille une ressemblance avec ce mot, ce nom, cette phrase.
What words are commonly confused with "rébus"?
"rébus" is commonly confused with "res", "rus", "reçu". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "rébus"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "rébus" is \ʁe.by\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "rébus" come from?
"rébus" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "rébus", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

rubio#47,009semée#47,039studi#47,056tarda#47,063

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

Rousseff8 variantsrelous8 variantsTaurus8 variantsTivoli8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list