relaivsrêvaitWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#32,558
“relai” frequency rank
#18,315
“rêvait” frequency rank
50873
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature relai rêvait
Definition Action de relayer : résultat de cette action. Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de rêver.

Where the eye mixes relai and rêvait

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
relai
6 ch
rêvait

Look-alike desk: relai vs rêvait

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: relai is \ʁə.lɛ\ while rêvait is \ʁɛ.vɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50873, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

relai is recorded at frequency rank #32,558, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.lɛ\. rêvait is at rank #18,315, 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 50873, this pair ranks #159,279 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of relai vs rêvait

Shared letters: air. Private to "relai": el. Private to "rêvait": tvê.

"relai" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "rêvait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • relaierlai · reali · relia · rellai · rleai · rrelai

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "relai" for "rêvait" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "relai" is a noun and "rêvait" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "relai" or "rêvait" show up more?
"rêvait" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,315 in our French list, against #32,558 for "relai". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "relai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rêvait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #159,279 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "relai" and "rêvait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "relai vs relit". 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 #159,279 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