reactionvsrédactionsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,770
“reaction” frequency rank
#24,378
“rédactions” frequency rank
55148
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reaction rédactions
Definition Réaction. Pluriel de rédaction.

Where the eye mixes reaction and rédactions

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. reaction runs 8 letters (CVVCCVVC) against rédactions's 10 (CVCVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
reaction
10 ch
rédactions

Visual trap between reaction and rédactions

A purely visual mix-up. reaction (\ɹiˈæk.ʃən\) and rédactions (\ʁe.dak.sjɔ̃\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55148, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reaction is recorded at frequency rank #30,770, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɹiˈæk.ʃən\. rédactions is at rank #24,378, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.dak.sjɔ̃\.

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 55148, this pair ranks #129,375 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reaction vs rédactions

Shared letters: acinort. Private to "reaction": e. Private to "rédactions": dsé.

"reaction" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC  ·  "rédactions" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reaction ← eraction · raection · reacction · reaciton · reactino · reactionn · reactoin · reacttion

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reaction" for "rédactions" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɹiˈæk.ʃən\ versus \ʁe.dak.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "reaction" or "rédactions" show up more?
"rédactions" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,378 in our French list, against #30,770 for "reaction". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "reaction" and "rédactions" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reaction" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rédactions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #129,375 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reaction" and "rédactions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reaction vs réfraction". 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 #129,375 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list