recevaientvsrelevaientWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,468
“recevaient” frequency rank
#37,524
“relevaient” frequency rank
62992
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recevaient relevaient
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de recevoir. Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de relever.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set recevaient and relevaient apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

10 ch
recevaient
10 ch
relevaient

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. recevaient (\ʁə.sə.vɛ\) and relevaient (\ʁə.lə.vɛ\) 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 a single letter - c in “recevaient” becomes l in “relevaient”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62992, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recevaient is recorded at frequency rank #25,468, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.sə.vɛ\. relevaient is at rank #37,524, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.lə.vɛ\.

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 62992, this pair ranks #84,204 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of recevaient vs relevaient

Shared letters: aeinrtv. Private to "recevaient": c. Private to "relevaient": l.

"recevaient" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVVVCC  ·  "relevaient" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recevaientercevaient · rceevaient · reccevaient · receavient · recevaeint · recevaiennt · recevaientt · recevaietn
  • relevaienterlevaient · reelvaient · releavient · relevaeint · relevaiennt · relevaientt · relevaietn · relevainet

Frequency comparison

recevaient#25,468
relevaient#37,524

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recevaient" and "relevaient" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.sə.vɛ\ versus \ʁə.lə.vɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "recevaient" or "relevaient"?
"recevaient" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,468 in our French list, against #37,524 for "relevaient". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering recevaient vs relevaient

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 “recevaient” 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