Which to use
“recel” is a noun and “reçu” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,211
- “recel” frequency rank
- #813
- “reçu” frequency rank
- 28024
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recel | reçu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Acte de celui ou de celle qui recèle. | Qui est admis, établi, consacré. |
Where the eye mixes recel and reçu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses recel with reçu
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: recel is \ʁə.sɛl\ while reçu is \ʁə.sy\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28024, 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\. reçu is at rank #813, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.sy\.
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 28024, this pair ranks #325,353 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of recel vs reçu
Shared letters: er. Private to "recel": cl. Private to "reçu": uç.
"recel" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "reçu" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- recel ← ercel · rceel · reccel · recell · recle · reecl · rrecel
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "recel" and "reçu" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "recel" or "reçu"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "recel" and "reçu" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "recel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "reçu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #325,353 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recel" and "reçu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recel vs recèlent". 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 #325,353 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.