RetzvsrêvezWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Retz is a name, rêvez is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Retz” is a name and “rêvez” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,695
“Retz” frequency rank
#21,461
“rêvez” frequency rank
53156
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Retz rêvez
Definition Pays de Bretagne, élevé en duché, dont la capitale a été Rezé puis Pornic. Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de rêver.

Where the eye mixes Retz and rêvez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Retz runs 4 letters (CVCC) against rêvez's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Retz
5 ch
rêvez

Why the eye confuses Retz with rêvez

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Retz is \ʁɛ\ while rêvez is \ʁɛ.ve\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53156, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Retz is recorded at frequency rank #31,695, classified as aname, pronounced \ʁɛ\. rêvez is at rank #21,461, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁɛ.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 53156, this pair ranks #142,672 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Retz vs rêvez

Shared letters: erz. Private to "Retz": t. Private to "rêvez": vê.

"Retz" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "rêvez" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Retz ← ertz · rettz · retzz · rezt · rretz · rtez

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Retz" and "rêvez" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Retz" is a name and "rêvez" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "Retz" or "rêvez" show up more?
"rêvez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,461 in our French list, against #31,695 for "Retz". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Retz" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rêvez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #142,672 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Retz" and "rêvez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Reis vs Retz". 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 #142,672 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