recèlentvsrépètentTell them apart

Which to use

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

#49,896
“recèlent” frequency rank
#19,675
“répètent” frequency rank
69571
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recèlent répètent
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de receler. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de répéter.

Where the eye mixes recèlent and répètent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. recèlent and répètent follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
recèlent
8 ch
répètent

Visual trap between recèlent and répètent

A purely visual mix-up. recèlent (\ʁə.sɛl\) and répètent (\ʁe.pɛt\) 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 69571, 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\. répètent is at rank #19,675, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.pɛt\.

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 69571, this pair ranks #54,616 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of recèlent vs répètent

Shared letters: enrtè. Private to "recèlent": cl. Private to "répètent": pé.

"recèlent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC  ·  "répètent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "recèlent" for "répètent" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.sɛl\ versus \ʁe.pɛt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "recèlent" or "répètent"?
"répètent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,675 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.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "recèlent" and "répètent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "recèlent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "répètent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,616 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recèlent" and "répètent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recèlent vs repèrent". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #54,616 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