Which to use
“refais” and “rêvais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,992
- “refais” frequency rank
- #22,084
- “rêvais” frequency rank
- 38076
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refais | rêvais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de refaire. | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de rêver. |
Where the eye mixes refais and rêvais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses refais with rêvais
A purely visual mix-up. refais (\ʁə.fɛ\) and rêvais (\ʁɛ.vɛ\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38076, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
refais is recorded at frequency rank #15,992, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fɛ\. rêvais is at rank #22,084, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁɛ.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 38076, this pair ranks #257,835 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of refais vs rêvais
Shared letters: airs. Private to "refais": ef. Private to "rêvais": vê.
"refais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "rêvais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- refais ← erfais · reafis · refaiss · refasi · reffais · refias · rfeais · rrefais
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "refais" and "rêvais" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "refais" or "rêvais"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "refais" and "rêvais" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "refais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rêvais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #257,835 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refais" and "rêvais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Reis vs rêvais". 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 #257,835 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.