renouervsrévoquerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,305
“renouer” frequency rank
#32,582
“révoquer” frequency rank
50887
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature renouer révoquer
Definition Nouer une chose dénouée, séparée. Destituer ; ôter à quelqu’un, pour des raisons de mécontentement, les fonctions, le pouvoir, l’emploi amovible qu’on lui avait donné.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
renouer
8 ch
révoquer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. renouer (\ʁə.nwe\) and révoquer (\ʁe.vɔ.ke\) 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 50887, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

renouer is recorded at frequency rank #18,305, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.nwe\. révoquer is at rank #32,582, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.vɔ.ke\.

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 50887, this pair ranks #159,171 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of renouer vs révoquer

Shared letters: eoru. Private to "renouer": n. Private to "révoquer": qvé.

"renouer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC  ·  "révoquer" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • renouerernouer · rennouer · renoeur · renouerr · renoure · renuoer · reonuer · rneouer

Frequency comparison

renouer#18,305
révoquer#32,582

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "renouer" and "révoquer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.nwe\ versus \ʁe.vɔ.ke\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "renouer" or "révoquer"?
"renouer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,305 in our French list, against #32,582 for "révoquer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering renouer vs révoquer

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 “renouer” 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