Which to use
“rénover” and “renvoyer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,471
- “rénover” frequency rank
- #6,435
- “renvoyer” frequency rank
- 22906
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rénover | renvoyer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Renouveler, remettre en vigueur. | Envoyer à nouveau. |
Where the eye mixes rénover and renvoyer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. rénover runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against renvoyer's 8 (CVCCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses rénover with renvoyer
A purely visual mix-up. rénover (\ʁe.nɔ.ve\) and renvoyer (\ʁɑ̃.vwa.je\) 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 22906, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rénover is recorded at frequency rank #16,471, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.nɔ.ve\. renvoyer is at rank #6,435, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁɑ̃.vwa.je\.
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 22906, this pair ranks #355,454 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of rénover vs renvoyer
Shared letters: enorv. Private to "rénover": é. Private to "renvoyer": y.
"rénover" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "renvoyer" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- renvoyer ← ernvoyer · rennvoyer · renovyer · renvoeyr · renvoyerr · renvoyre · renvoyyer · renvvoyer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "rénover" for "renvoyer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "rénover" vs "renvoyer" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "rénover" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "renvoyer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #355,454 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rénover" and "renvoyer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recovery vs rénover". 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 #355,454 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.