réveillaitvsréveillentWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#47,028
“réveillait” frequency rank
#23,018
“réveillent” frequency rank
70046
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature réveillait réveillent
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de réveiller. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de réveiller.

Where the eye mixes réveillait and réveillent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. réveillait (CVCVVCCVVC) and réveillent (CVCVVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

10 ch
réveillait
10 ch
réveillent

Why the eye confuses réveillait with réveillent

A purely visual mix-up. réveillait (\ʁe.vɛ.jɛ\) and réveillent (\ʁe.vɛj\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70046, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

réveillait is recorded at frequency rank #47,028, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.vɛ.jɛ\. réveillent is at rank #23,018, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.vɛj\.

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 70046, this pair ranks #52,848 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of réveillait vs réveillent

Shared letters: eilrtvé. Private to "réveillait": a. Private to "réveillent": n.

"réveillait" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVVC  ·  "réveillent" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "réveillait" for "réveillent" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.vɛ.jɛ\ versus \ʁe.vɛj\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "réveillait" or "réveillent"?
"réveillent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,018 in our French list, against #47,028 for "réveillait". 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 "réveillait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "réveillent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #52,848 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "réveillait" and "réveillent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réveilla vs réveillait". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #52,848 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