référévsrelireWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: référé is a noun, relire is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“référé” is a noun and “relire” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,408
“référé” frequency rank
#9,731
“relire” frequency rank
32139
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature référé relire
Definition Recours au juge qui, dans les cas d’urgence, prend une décision provisoire. Lire de nouveau.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set référé and relire apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
référé
6 ch
relire

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: référé is \ʁe.fe.ʁe\ while relire is \ʁə.liʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32139, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

référé is recorded at frequency rank #22,408, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.fe.ʁe\. relire is at rank #9,731, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.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 32139, this pair ranks #299,277 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of référé vs relire

Shared letters: r. Private to "référé": . Private to "relire": eil.

"référé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "relire" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • relireerlire · reilre · relirre · rellire · relrie · rleire · rrelire

Frequency comparison

référé#22,408
relire#9,731

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "référé" and "relire" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "référé" is a noun and "relire" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "référé" or "relire"?
"relire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,731 in our French list, against #22,408 for "référé". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering référé vs relire

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “référé”; for a verb, it's “relire”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “référé” 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