réservervsréservésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: réserver is a verb, réservés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“réserver” is a verb and “réservés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,898
“réserver” frequency rank
#9,388
“réservés” frequency rank
17286
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature réserver réservés
Definition Garder, retenir quelque chose d’un tout, une chose entre plusieurs autres. Masculin pluriel de réservé.

Same sound, different letters: réserver vs réservés

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. réserver and réservés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
réserver
8 ch
réservés

Ear matches; page differs - réserver and réservés

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: réserver and réservés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁe.zɛʁ.ve\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17286, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

réserver is recorded at frequency rank #7,898, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.zɛʁ.ve\. réservés is at rank #9,388, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁe.zɛʁ.ve\.

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 17286, this pair ranks #383,898 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of réserver vs réservés

Shared letters: ersvé. Private to "réserver": -. Private to "réservés": -.

"réserver" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "réservés" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "réserver" and "réservés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "réserver" is a verb and "réservés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "réserver" vs "réservés" - which ranks higher?
"réserver" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,898 in our French list, against #9,388 for "réservés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "réserver" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "réservés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #383,898 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "réserver" and "réservés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réservés vs rêveries". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #383,898 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