recelvsrecèlentWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#27,211
“recel” frequency rank
#49,896
“recèlent” frequency rank
77107
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recel recèlent
Definition Acte de celui ou de celle qui recèle. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de receler.

Same sound, different letters: recel vs recèlent

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. recel runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against recèlent's 8 (CVCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
recel
8 ch
recèlent

Same sound, different spelling - recel / recèlent

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: recel and recèlent carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁə.sɛl\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 3 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77107, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recel is recorded at frequency rank #27,211, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.sɛl\. recèlent is at rank #49,896, tagged as averb, 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 77107, this pair ranks #29,297 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of recel vs recèlent

Shared letters: celr. Private to "recel": -. Private to "recèlent": ntè.

"recel" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "recèlent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recel ← ercel · rceel · reccel · recell · recle · reecl · rrecel

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "recel" for "recèlent" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "recel" is a noun and "recèlent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "recel" or "recèlent"?
"recel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,211 in our French list, against #49,896 for "recèlent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "recel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recèlent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #29,297 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recel" and "recèlent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recèlent vs repèrent". 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 #29,297 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