redevenirvsrevenirWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#13,894
“redevenir” frequency rank
#1,096
“revenir” frequency rank
14990
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature redevenir revenir
Definition Devenir de nouveau, recommencer à être ce qu’on était auparavant. Venir une autre fois, venir de nouveau.

Where the eye mixes redevenir and revenir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. redevenir runs 9 letters (CVCVCVCVC) against revenir's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
redevenir
7 ch
revenir

Why the eye confuses redevenir with revenir

A purely visual mix-up. redevenir (\ʁə.də.vniʁ\) and revenir (\ʁə.vniʁ\) 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 14990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

redevenir is recorded at frequency rank #13,894, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.də.vniʁ\. revenir is at rank #1,096, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.vniʁ\.

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 14990, this pair ranks #394,327 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of redevenir vs revenir

Shared letters: einrv. Private to "redevenir": d. Private to "revenir": -.

"redevenir" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC  ·  "revenir" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • redevenir ← erdevenir · rdeevenir · reddevenir · redeevnir · redeveinr · redevenirr · redevennir · redevenri
  • revenir ← ervenir · reevnir · reveinr · revenirr · revennir · revenri · revneir · revvenir

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "redevenir" and "revenir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.də.vniʁ\ versus \ʁə.vniʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "redevenir" or "revenir" show up more?
"revenir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,096 in our French list, against #13,894 for "redevenir". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "redevenir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "revenir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #394,327 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "redevenir" and "revenir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "redevenir vs redevenue". 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 #394,327 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