Which to use
“replacer” and “retracer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,070
- “replacer” frequency rank
- #19,391
- “retracer” frequency rank
- 41461
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | replacer | retracer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Remettre à sa place. | Tracer de nouveau ou d’une manière nouvelle. |
Where the eye mixes replacer and retracer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. replacer and retracer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: replacer vs retracer
A purely visual mix-up. replacer (\ʁə.pla.se\) and retracer (\ʁə.tʁa.se\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41461, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
replacer is recorded at frequency rank #22,070, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.pla.se\. retracer is at rank #19,391, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tʁa.se\.
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 41461, this pair ranks #232,914 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of replacer vs retracer
Shared letters: acer. Private to "replacer": lp. Private to "retracer": t.
"replacer" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "retracer" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "replacer" for "retracer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "replacer" vs "retracer" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "replacer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retracer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #232,914 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "replacer" and "retracer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recracher vs retracer". 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 #232,914 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.