recèlentvsrécoltentWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#49,896
“recèlent” frequency rank
#39,024
“récoltent” frequency rank
88920
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recèlent récoltent
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de receler. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de récolter.

Where the eye mixes recèlent and récoltent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. recèlent runs 8 letters (CVCVCVCC) against récoltent's 9 (CVCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
recèlent
9 ch
récoltent

Why the eye confuses recèlent with récoltent

A purely visual mix-up. recèlent (\ʁə.sɛl\) and récoltent (\ʁe.kɔlt\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88920, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recèlent is recorded at frequency rank #49,896, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.sɛl\. récoltent is at rank #39,024, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.kɔlt\.

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 88920, this pair ranks #6,387 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of recèlent vs récoltent

Shared letters: celnrt. Private to "recèlent": è. Private to "récoltent": oé.

"recèlent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC  ·  "récoltent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recèlent" and "récoltent" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.sɛl\ versus \ʁe.kɔlt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "recèlent" or "récoltent" show up more?
"récoltent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,024 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.

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 "recèlent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "récoltent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #6,387 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recèlent" and "récoltent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recèlent vs repèrent". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #6,387 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