résiduvsrestauWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#27,227
“résidu” frequency rank
#17,805
“restau” frequency rank
45032
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature résidu restau
Definition Ce qui reste. Restaurant.

Where the eye mixes résidu and restau

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
résidu
6 ch
restau

Visual trap between résidu and restau

A purely visual mix-up. résidu (\ʁe.zi.dy\) and restau (\ʁɛs.to\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45032, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

résidu is recorded at frequency rank #27,227, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.zi.dy\. restau is at rank #17,805, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁɛs.to\.

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 45032, this pair ranks #205,921 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of résidu vs restau

Shared letters: rsu. Private to "résidu": dié. Private to "restau": aet.

"résidu" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "restau" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • restauerstau · resatu · resstau · resttau · restua · retsau · rrestau · rsetau

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "résidu" for "restau" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.zi.dy\ versus \ʁɛs.to\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "résidu" or "restau" show up more?
"restau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,805 in our French list, against #27,227 for "résidu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "résidu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "restau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #205,921 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "résidu" and "restau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "résidu vs résiduel". 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 #205,921 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