Which to use
“racisme” and “réalisme” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,956
- “racisme” frequency rank
- #9,071
- “réalisme” frequency rank
- 13027
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | racisme | réalisme |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Conviction qu’on peut catégoriser les êtres humains en une série de races en se basant sur des critères physiques d’apparence scientifiques, surtout quand cela s’accompagne d’une hiérarchisation, consciente ou inconsciente, entre ces races. | Doctrine platonicienne, diversement interprétée et modifiée au Moyen Âge et après, selon laquelle les idées sont des êtres réels, dont les êtres individuels et sensibles ne sont que le reflet et l’image. En ce sens il s’oppose à nominalisme. Dans certaines autres doctrines de la philosophie moderne, il s’oppose à idéalisme. |
Where the eye mixes racisme and réalisme
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. racisme runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against réalisme's 8 (CVVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between racisme and réalisme
A purely visual mix-up. racisme (\ʁa.sism\) and réalisme (\ʁe.a.lism\) 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 13027, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
racisme is recorded at frequency rank #3,956, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁa.sism\. réalisme is at rank #9,071, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.a.lism\.
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 13027, this pair ranks #402,737 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of racisme vs réalisme
Shared letters: aeimrs. Private to "racisme": c. Private to "réalisme": lé.
"racisme" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "réalisme" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- racisme ← arcisme · raccisme · racimse · racisem · racismme · racissme · racsime · raicsme
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "racisme" for "réalisme" ever safe?
Frequency check: "racisme" vs "réalisme" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "racisme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "réalisme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #402,737 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "racisme" and "réalisme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réagisse vs réalisme". 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 #402,737 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.