réalisevsréélireWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,290
“réalise” frequency rank
#43,650
“réélire” frequency rank
46940
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature réalise réélire
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de réaliser. Élire de nouveau.

Where the eye mixes réalise and réélire

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. réalise and réélire follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
réalise
7 ch
réélire

Look-alike desk: réalise vs réélire

A purely visual mix-up. réalise (\ʁe.a.liz\) and réélire (\ʁe.e.liʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46940, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

réalise is recorded at frequency rank #3,290, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.a.liz\. réélire is at rank #43,650, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.e.liʁ\.

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 46940, this pair ranks #190,859 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of réalise vs réélire

Shared letters: eilré. Private to "réalise": as. Private to "réélire": -.

"réalise" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV  ·  "réélire" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "réalise" for "réélire" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.a.liz\ versus \ʁe.e.liʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "réalise" or "réélire"?
"réalise" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,290 in our French list, against #43,650 for "réélire". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "réalise" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "réélire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #190,859 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "réalise" and "réélire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réélire vs repliée". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #190,859 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