Which to use
“recent” and “récentes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,953
- “recent” frequency rank
- #5,395
- “récentes” frequency rank
- 46348
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recent | récentes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Récent. | Féminin pluriel de récent. |
Where the eye mixes recent and récentes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. recent runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against récentes's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses recent with récentes
A purely visual mix-up. recent (\ˈɹiː.sənt\) and récentes (\ʁe.sɑ̃t\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46348, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recent is recorded at frequency rank #40,953, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈɹiː.sənt\. récentes is at rank #5,395, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁe.sɑ̃t\.
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 46348, this pair ranks #195,702 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of recent vs récentes
Shared letters: cenrt. Private to "recent": -. Private to "récentes": sé.
"recent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "récentes" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- recent ← ercent · rceent · reccent · recennt · recentt · recetn · recnet · reecnt
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "recent" for "récentes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "recent" vs "récentes" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "recent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "récentes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #195,702 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recent" and "récentes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recèlent vs recent". 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 #195,702 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.