reliquesvsrépliquesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#13,897
“reliques” frequency rank
#14,355
“répliques” frequency rank
28252
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reliques répliques
Definition Pluriel de relique. Pluriel de réplique.

Where the eye mixes reliques and répliques

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. reliques runs 8 letters (CVCVCVVC) against répliques's 9 (CVCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
reliques
9 ch
répliques

Visual trap between reliques and répliques

A purely visual mix-up. reliques (\ʁə.lik\) and répliques (\ʁe.plik\) 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 28252, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reliques is recorded at frequency rank #13,897, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.lik\. répliques is at rank #14,355, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.plik\.

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 28252, this pair ranks #323,962 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reliques vs répliques

Shared letters: eilqrsu. Private to "reliques": -. Private to "répliques": pé.

"reliques" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC  ·  "répliques" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reliques ← erliques · reilques · reliqeus · reliqques · reliquess · reliquse · reliuqes · relliques

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reliques" for "répliques" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.lik\ versus \ʁe.plik\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "reliques" or "répliques"?
"reliques" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,897 in our French list, against #14,355 for "répliques". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "reliques" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "répliques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #323,962 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reliques" and "répliques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "repliés vs répliques". 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 #323,962 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