relaisvsrelatésWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#4,094
“relais” frequency rank
#48,148
“relatés” frequency rank
52242
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature relais relatés
Definition Un ou plusieurs chevaux frais, soit de selle, soit d’attelage, que l’on poste en quelque endroit pour remplacer ou renforcer ceux qui ont servi jusque-là. Participe passé masculin pluriel de relater.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set relais and relatés apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
relais
7 ch
relatés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: relais is \ʁə.lɛ\ while relatés is \ʁə.la.te\. 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 52242, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

relais is recorded at frequency rank #4,094, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.lɛ\. relatés is at rank #48,148, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.la.te\.

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 52242, this pair ranks #149,083 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of relais vs relatés

Shared letters: aelrs. Private to "relais": i. Private to "relatés": .

"relais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "relatés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • relaiserlais · realis · relaiss · relasi · relias · rellais · rleais · rrelais

Frequency comparison

relais#4,094
relatés#48,148

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "relais" and "relatés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "relais" is a noun and "relatés" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "relais" or "relatés"?
"relais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,094 in our French list, against #48,148 for "relatés". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering relais vs relatés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “relais”; for a verb, it's “relatés”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “relais” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list