Which to use
“relax” is an adjective and “repas” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,039
- “relax” frequency rank
- #1,934
- “repas” frequency rank
- 19973
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | relax | repas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Détendu, relaxant. | Nourriture que l’on prend pour s’alimenter pendant une période spécifiquement consacrée à cette activité, souvent à des heures régulières de la journée. |
Where the eye mixes relax and repas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between relax and repas
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: relax is \ʁə.laks\ while repas is \ʁə.pɑ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19973, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
relax is recorded at frequency rank #18,039, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.laks\. repas is at rank #1,934, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.pɑ\.
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 19973, this pair ranks #370,586 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of relax vs repas
Shared letters: aer. Private to "relax": lx. Private to "repas": ps.
"relax" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "repas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "relax" and "repas" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "relax" or "repas" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "relax" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "repas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #370,586 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "relax" and "repas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "relax 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 #370,586 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.