réalisevsreliéWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: réalise is a verb, relié is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“réalise” is a verb and “relié” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,290
“réalise” frequency rank
#9,376
“relié” frequency rank
12666
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature réalise relié
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de réaliser. Se dit d’un livre assemblé par reliure, à couverture rigide.

Where the eye mixes réalise and relié

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. réalise runs 7 letters (CVVCVCV) against relié's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
réalise
5 ch
relié

Look-alike desk: réalise vs relié

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: réalise is \ʁe.a.liz\ while relié is \ʁə.lje\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12666, 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\. relié is at rank #9,376, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.lje\.

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 12666, this pair ranks #404,311 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of réalise vs relié

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

"réalise" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV  ·  "relié" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "réalise" and "relié" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "réalise" is a verb and "relié" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "réalise" or "relié" show up more?
"réalise" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,290 in our French list, against #9,376 for "relié". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "réalise" and "relié" 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 "relié" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #404,311 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "réalise" and "relié" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "relié vs relit". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #404,311 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