réécrirevsréélireWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#21,460
“réécrire” frequency rank
#43,650
“réélire” frequency rank
65110
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature réécrire réélire
Definition Écrire de nouveau ce qui a déjà été écrit. Élire de nouveau.

Where the eye mixes réécrire and réélire

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. réécrire runs 8 letters (CVVCCVCV) against réélire's 7 (CVVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
réécrire
7 ch
réélire

Visual trap between réécrire and réélire

A purely visual mix-up. réécrire (\ʁe.e.kʁiʁ\) and réélire (\ʁe.e.liʁ\) 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 65110, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

réécrire is recorded at frequency rank #21,460, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.e.kʁiʁ\. réélire is at rank #43,650, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.e.liʁ\.

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 65110, this pair ranks #73,796 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of réécrire vs réélire

Shared letters: eiré. Private to "réécrire": c. Private to "réélire": l.

"réécrire" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCV  ·  "réélire" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "réécrire" for "réélire" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.e.kʁiʁ\ versus \ʁe.e.liʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "réécrire" vs "réélire" - which ranks higher?
"réécrire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,460 in our French list, against #43,650 for "réélire". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "réécrire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "réélire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #73,796 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "réécrire" and "réélire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réélire vs repliée". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #73,796 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