renvoievsrenvoyéeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,228
“renvoie” frequency rank
#18,043
“renvoyée” frequency rank
24271
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature renvoie renvoyée
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de renvoyer. Participe passé féminin singulier de renvoyer.

Where the eye mixes renvoie and renvoyée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. renvoie runs 7 letters (CVCCVVV) against renvoyée's 8 (CVCCVVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
renvoie
8 ch
renvoyée

Why the eye confuses renvoie with renvoyée

A purely visual mix-up. renvoie (\ʁɑ̃.vwa\) and renvoyée (\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 24271, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

renvoie is recorded at frequency rank #6,228, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁɑ̃.vwa\. renvoyée is at rank #18,043, 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 24271, this pair ranks #347,571 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of renvoie vs renvoyée

Shared letters: enorv. Private to "renvoie": i. Private to "renvoyée": yé.

"renvoie" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVV  ·  "renvoyée" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • renvoie ← ernvoie · rennvoie · renovie · renvioe · renvoei · renvvoie · revnoie · rnevoie

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "renvoie" and "renvoyée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁɑ̃.vwa\ versus \ʁɑ̃.vwa.je\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "renvoie" vs "renvoyée" - which ranks higher?
"renvoie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,228 in our French list, against #18,043 for "renvoyée". 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 "renvoie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "renvoyée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #347,571 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "renvoie" and "renvoyée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "renvoyée vs renvoyées". 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 #347,571 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