Which to use
“recel” and “récup” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,211
- “recel” frequency rank
- #27,952
- “récup” frequency rank
- 55163
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recel | récup |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Acte de celui ou de celle qui recèle. | Technique de restauration ou de création à partir d’objets anciens. |
Where the eye mixes recel and récup
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. recel and récup follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses recel with récup
A purely visual mix-up. recel (\ʁə.sɛl\) and récup (\ʁe.kyp\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55163, 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\. récup is at rank #27,952, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.kyp\.
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 55163, this pair ranks #129,257 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of recel vs récup
Shared letters: cr. Private to "recel": el. Private to "récup": pué.
"recel" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "récup" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- recel ← ercel · rceel · reccel · recell · recle · reecl · rrecel
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "recel" and "récup" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "recel" vs "récup" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "recel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "récup" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #129,257 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recel" and "récup" 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 #129,257 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.