réveillervsrévélerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,801
“réveiller” frequency rank
#6,027
“révéler” frequency rank
10828
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature réveiller révéler
Definition Tirer du sommeil. Découvrir, déclarer, faire savoir une chose qui était inconnue et secrète.

Where the eye mixes réveiller and révéler

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. réveiller runs 9 letters (CVCVVCCVC) against révéler's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
réveiller
7 ch
révéler

Visual trap between réveiller and révéler

A purely visual mix-up. réveiller (\ʁe.ve.je\) and révéler (\ʁe.ve.le\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10828, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

réveiller is recorded at frequency rank #4,801, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.ve.je\. révéler is at rank #6,027, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.ve.le\.

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 10828, this pair ranks #411,528 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of réveiller vs révéler

Shared letters: elrvé. Private to "réveiller": i. Private to "révéler": -.

"réveiller" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC  ·  "révéler" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "réveiller" and "révéler" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.ve.je\ versus \ʁe.ve.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "réveiller" or "révéler"?
"réveiller" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,801 in our French list, against #6,027 for "révéler". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "réveiller" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "révéler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #411,528 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "réveiller" and "révéler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ravaler vs révéler". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #411,528 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