resvsrussWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#12,853
“res” frequency rank
#31,707
“russ” frequency rank
44560
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature res russ
Definition Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe rêtre. Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de russen.

Where the eye mixes res and russ

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
res
4 ch
russ

Look-alike desk: res vs russ

A purely visual mix-up. res (\ʁɛ\) and russ (\ʁʊs\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44560, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

res is recorded at frequency rank #12,853, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁɛ\. russ is at rank #31,707, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁʊs\.

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 44560, this pair ranks #209,564 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of res vs russ

Shared letters: rs. Private to "res": e. Private to "russ": u.

"res" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "russ" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • russrruss · rsus

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "res" and "russ" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁɛ\ versus \ʁʊs\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "res" vs "russ" - which ranks higher?
"res" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,853 in our French list, against #31,707 for "russ". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "res" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "russ" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #209,564 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "res" and "russ" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rhys vs russ". 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 #209,564 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