réparervsretaperConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#4,986
“réparer” frequency rank
#33,868
“retaper” frequency rank
38854
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature réparer retaper
Definition Remettre en état ce qui a été endommagé. Remettre en état ce qui a été froissé, bossué, détérioré.

Where the eye mixes réparer and retaper

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. réparer and retaper follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
réparer
7 ch
retaper

Why the eye confuses réparer with retaper

A purely visual mix-up. réparer (\ʁe.pa.ʁe\) and retaper (\ʁə.ta.pe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38854, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

réparer is recorded at frequency rank #4,986, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.pa.ʁe\. retaper is at rank #33,868, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ta.pe\.

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 38854, this pair ranks #252,331 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of réparer vs retaper

Shared letters: aepr. Private to "réparer": é. Private to "retaper": t.

"réparer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "retaper" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retaper ← ertaper · reatper · retaepr · retaperr · retapper · retapre · retpaer · rettaper

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "réparer" and "retaper" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.pa.ʁe\ versus \ʁə.ta.pe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "réparer" or "retaper"?
"réparer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,986 in our French list, against #33,868 for "retaper". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "réparer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "retaper" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #252,331 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "réparer" and "retaper" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reader vs retaper". 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 #252,331 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