relevavsrelèveWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#30,774
“releva” frequency rank
#2,795
“relève” frequency rank
33569
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature releva relève
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de relever. Remplacement d’une troupe de soldats, d’une équipe d’ouvriers par une autre troupe, une autre équipe équivalente.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set releva and relève apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
releva
6 ch
relève

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: releva is \ʁə.lə.va\ while relève is \ʁə.lɛv\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33569, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

releva is recorded at frequency rank #30,774, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.lə.va\. relève is at rank #2,795, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.lɛv\.

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 33569, this pair ranks #289,735 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of releva vs relève

Shared letters: elrv. Private to "releva": a. Private to "relève": è.

"releva" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "relève" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • relevaerleva · reelva · releav · relevva · relleva · relvea · rleeva · rreleva

Frequency comparison

releva#30,774
relève#2,795

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "releva" and "relève" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "releva" is a verb and "relève" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "releva" or "relève"?
"relève" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,795 in our French list, against #30,774 for "releva". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering releva vs relève

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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