rébusvsrepasWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#47,013
“rébus” frequency rank
#1,934
“repas” frequency rank
48947
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rébus repas
Definition Jeu d’esprit qui consiste à représenter un mot, un nom ou une phrase par des figures d’objets dont les noms offrent à l’oreille une ressemblance avec ce mot, ce nom, cette phrase. Nourriture que l’on prend pour s’alimenter pendant une période spécifiquement consacrée à cette activité, souvent à des heures régulières de la journée.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set rébus and repas apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
rébus
5 ch
repas

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. rébus (\ʁe.by\) and repas (\ʁə.pɑ\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48947, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rébus is recorded at frequency rank #47,013, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.by\. repas is at rank #1,934, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.pɑ\.

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 48947, this pair ranks #174,771 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rébus vs repas

Shared letters: rs. Private to "rébus": bué. Private to "repas": aep.

"rébus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "repas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • repaserpas · reaps · repass · reppas · repsa · rpeas · rrepas

Frequency comparison

rébus#47,013
repas#1,934

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rébus" and "repas" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.by\ versus \ʁə.pɑ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rébus" or "repas"?
"repas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,934 in our French list, against #47,013 for "rébus". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering rébus vs repas

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “rébus” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list