rêvevsrêventWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: rêve is a noun, rêvent is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rêve” is a noun and “rêvent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,210
“rêve” frequency rank
#13,906
“rêvent” frequency rank
15116
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rêve rêvent
Definition Expérience illusoire, souvent absurde, agréable ou désagréable, vécue à la faveur d'une activité cérébrale pendant le sommeil. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de rêver.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set rêve and rêvent apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
rêve
6 ch
rêvent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: rêve and rêvent carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁɛv\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “rêve” sits inside “rêvent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15116, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rêve is recorded at frequency rank #1,210, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁɛv\. rêvent is at rank #13,906, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁɛv\.

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 15116, this pair ranks #393,785 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rêve vs rêvent

Shared letters: ervê. Private to "rêve": -. Private to "rêvent": nt.

"rêve" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "rêvent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Frequency comparison

rêve#1,210
rêvent#13,906

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rêve" and "rêvent" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rêve" is a noun and "rêvent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rêve" or "rêvent"?
"rêve" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,210 in our French list, against #13,906 for "rêvent". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering rêve vs rêvent

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “rêve”; for a verb, it's “rêvent”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “rêve” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list