reposvsreposéeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,894
“repos” frequency rank
#38,012
“reposée” frequency rank
40906
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature repos reposée
Definition Privation, cessation de mouvement, d’activité ou d’effort. Lieu où une bête sauvage se repose.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
repos
7 ch
reposée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. repos (\ʁə.po\) and reposée (\ʁə.po.ze\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “repos” sits inside “reposée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40906, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

repos is recorded at frequency rank #2,894, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.po\. reposée is at rank #38,012, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.po.ze\.

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 40906, this pair ranks #237,014 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of repos vs reposée

Shared letters: eoprs. Private to "repos": -. Private to "reposée": é.

"repos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "reposée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reposerpos · reops · reposs · reppos · repso · rpeos · rrepos

Frequency comparison

repos#2,894
reposée#38,012

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "repos" and "reposée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.po\ versus \ʁə.po.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "repos" or "reposée"?
"repos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,894 in our French list, against #38,012 for "reposée". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering repos vs reposée

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 “repos” 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