Which to use
“requin” is a noun and “requis” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,907
- “requin” frequency rank
- #6,549
- “requis” frequency rank
- 16456
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | requin | requis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Espèce de poisson de mer prédateur de la classe des chondrichthyens (Chondrichthyens), à la silhouette fuselée, hydrodynamique, ayant plusieurs rangées de dents tranchantes à chacune des 2 mâchoires, une nageoire dorsale, deux pectorales, et une nageoire caudale hétérocerque (asymétrique), ayant cinq à sept fentes branchiales sur le côté, et une peau rugueuse (denticules dermiques). | D’une chose ou d’un concept : qui fait partie de conditions fixées par la loi ou un règlement. |
Where the eye mixes requin and requis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. requin and requis follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between requin and requis
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: requin is \ʁə.kɛ̃\ while requis is \ʁə.ki\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “requin” becomes s in “requis”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16456, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
requin is recorded at frequency rank #9,907, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.kɛ̃\. requis is at rank #6,549, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.ki\.
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 16456, this pair ranks #387,754 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of requin vs requis
Shared letters: eiqru. Private to "requin": n. Private to "requis": s.
"requin" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "requis" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "requin" and "requis" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "requin" or "requis"?
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 "requin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "requis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #387,754 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "requin" and "requis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Reis vs requis". 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 #387,754 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.