rendrevsreneWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#514
“rendre” frequency rank
#35,247
“rene” frequency rank
35761
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rendre rene
Definition Remettre une chose entre les mains de celui à qui elle appartient, de quelque manière qu’on l’ait eue. Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif du verbe ren/renañ/reniñ.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
rendre
4 ch
rene

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. rendre (\ʁɑ̃dʁ\) and rene (\ˈrẽːne\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35761, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rendre is recorded at frequency rank #514, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁɑ̃dʁ\. rene is at rank #35,247, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈrẽːne\.

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 35761, this pair ranks #274,437 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rendre vs rene

Shared letters: enr. Private to "rendre": d. Private to "rene": -.

"rendre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "rene" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rendreerndre · rednre · renddre · render · rendrre · renndre · renrde · rnedre
  • reneerne · reen · rnee · rrene

Frequency comparison

rendre#514
rene#35,247

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rendre" and "rene" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁɑ̃dʁ\ versus \ˈrẽːne\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rendre" or "rene"?
"rendre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #514 in our French list, against #35,247 for "rene". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering rendre vs rene

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “rendre” 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