Which to use
“requiem” and “requins” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,111
- “requiem” frequency rank
- #11,473
- “requins” frequency rank
- 40584
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | requiem | requins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Prière que l’Église fait pour les morts. | Pluriel de requin. |
Where the eye mixes requiem and requins
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. requiem (CVCVVVC) and requins (CVCVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses requiem with requins
A purely visual mix-up. requiem (\ʁe.kɥi.jɛm\) and requins (\ʁə.kɛ̃\) 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 40584, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
requiem is recorded at frequency rank #29,111, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.kɥi.jɛm\. requins is at rank #11,473, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.kɛ̃\.
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 40584, this pair ranks #239,425 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of requiem vs requins
Shared letters: eiqru. Private to "requiem": m. Private to "requins": ns.
"requiem" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC · "requins" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "requiem" and "requins" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "requiem" or "requins" show up more?
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 "requiem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "requins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #239,425 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "requiem" and "requins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réduis vs requins". 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 #239,425 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.