réveilvsréveillaWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#5,184
“réveil” frequency rank
#44,712
“réveilla” frequency rank
49896
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature réveil réveilla
Definition Retour à l’état d’éveil. → voir heure du réveil Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de réveiller.

Where the eye mixes réveil and réveilla

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. réveil runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against réveilla's 8 (CVCVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
réveil
8 ch
réveilla

Visual trap between réveil and réveilla

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: réveil is \ʁe.vɛj\ while réveilla is \ʁe.vɛ.ja\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “réveil” sits inside “réveilla”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49896, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

réveil is recorded at frequency rank #5,184, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.vɛj\. réveilla is at rank #44,712, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.vɛ.ja\.

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 49896, this pair ranks #167,021 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of réveil vs réveilla

Shared letters: eilrvé. Private to "réveil": -. Private to "réveilla": a.

"réveil" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "réveilla" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "réveil" and "réveilla" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "réveil" is a noun and "réveilla" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "réveil" or "réveilla" show up more?
"réveil" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,184 in our French list, against #44,712 for "réveilla". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "réveil" and "réveilla" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "réveil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "réveilla" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #167,021 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "réveil" and "réveilla" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réveilla vs réveillait". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #167,021 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