référervsréitérerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,144
“référer” frequency rank
#30,791
“réitérer” frequency rank
44935
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature référer réitérer
Definition Rapporter une chose à une autre. Faire de nouveau, recommencer, renouveler, répéter.

Where the eye mixes référer and réitérer

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

7 ch
référer
8 ch
réitérer

Visual trap between référer and réitérer

A purely visual mix-up. référer (\ʁe.fe.ʁe\) and réitérer (\ʁe.i.te.ʁe\) 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 44935, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

référer is recorded at frequency rank #14,144, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.fe.ʁe\. réitérer is at rank #30,791, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.i.te.ʁe\.

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 44935, this pair ranks #206,690 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of référer vs réitérer

Shared letters: eré. Private to "référer": f. Private to "réitérer": it.

"référer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "réitérer" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "référer" and "réitérer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.fe.ʁe\ versus \ʁe.i.te.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "référer" or "réitérer" show up more?
"référer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,144 in our French list, against #30,791 for "réitérer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "référer" and "réitérer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "référer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "réitérer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #206,690 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "référer" and "réitérer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réitérer vs resterez". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #206,690 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