Which to use
“recalé” is a verb and “recel” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,998
- “recalé” frequency rank
- #27,211
- “recel” frequency rank
- 69209
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recalé | recel |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe recaler. | Acte de celui ou de celle qui recèle. |
Where the eye mixes recalé and recel
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. recalé runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against recel's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses recalé with recel
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: recalé is \ʁə.ka.le\ while recel is \ʁə.sɛl\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69209, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recalé is recorded at frequency rank #41,998, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ka.le\. recel is at rank #27,211, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.sɛl\.
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 69209, this pair ranks #56,044 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of recalé vs recel
Shared letters: celr. Private to "recalé": aé. Private to "recel": -.
"recalé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "recel" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- recel ← ercel · rceel · reccel · recell · recle · reecl · rrecel
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "recalé" for "recel" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "recalé" or "recel" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "recalé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #56,044 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recalé" and "recel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recalé vs rénal". 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 #56,044 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.