RevsrouWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Re” and “rou” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,641
“Re” frequency rank
#48,169
“rou” frequency rank
50810
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Re rou
Definition Taux effectif de transmission d’une maladie. Synonyme de rohu (poisson).

Where the eye mixes Re and rou

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
Re
3 ch
rou

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Re (\ɛ.ʁœ\) and rou (\ʁu\) 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 50810, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Re is recorded at frequency rank #2,641, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ.ʁœ\. rou is at rank #48,169, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁu\.

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 50810, this pair ranks #159,784 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Re vs rou

Shared letters: r. Private to "Re": e. Private to "rou": ou.

"Re" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "rou" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Re" and "rou" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ.ʁœ\ versus \ʁu\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Re" or "rou"?
"Re" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,641 in our French list, against #48,169 for "rou". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list