redoutervsréécouterWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#31,681
“redouter” frequency rank
#38,033
“réécouter” frequency rank
69714
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature redouter réécouter
Definition Craindre fort. Écouter à nouveau.

Where the eye mixes redouter and réécouter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
redouter
9 ch
réécouter

Look-alike desk: redouter vs réécouter

A purely visual mix-up. redouter (\ʁə.du.te\) and réécouter (\ʁe.e.ku.te\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69714, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

redouter is recorded at frequency rank #31,681, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.du.te\. réécouter is at rank #38,033, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.e.ku.te\.

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 69714, this pair ranks #54,094 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of redouter vs réécouter

Shared letters: eortu. Private to "redouter": d. Private to "réécouter": .

"redouter" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC  ·  "réécouter" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • redoutererdouter · rdeouter · reddouter · redotuer · redouetr · redouterr · redoutre · redoutter

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "redouter" and "réécouter" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.du.te\ versus \ʁe.e.ku.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "redouter" or "réécouter"?
"redouter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,681 in our French list, against #38,033 for "réécouter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "redouter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "réécouter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,094 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "redouter" and "réécouter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recouper vs réécouter". 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 #54,094 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