récentesvsrécoltésTell them apart

Quick tell: récentes is a adjective, récoltés is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“récentes” is an adjective and “récoltés” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,395
“récentes” frequency rank
#21,454
“récoltés” frequency rank
26849
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature récentes récoltés
Definition Féminin pluriel de récent. Participe passé masculin pluriel de récolter.

Where the eye mixes récentes and récoltés

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

8 ch
récentes
8 ch
récoltés

Look-alike desk: récentes vs récoltés

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: récentes is \ʁe.sɑ̃t\ while récoltés is \ʁe.kɔl.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26849, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

récentes is recorded at frequency rank #5,395, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁe.sɑ̃t\. récoltés is at rank #21,454, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.kɔl.te\.

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 26849, this pair ranks #332,486 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of récentes vs récoltés

Shared letters: crsté. Private to "récentes": en. Private to "récoltés": lo.

"récentes" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "récoltés" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "récentes" and "récoltés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "récentes" is an adjective and "récoltés" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "récentes" vs "récoltés" - which ranks higher?
"récentes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,395 in our French list, against #21,454 for "récoltés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "récentes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "récoltés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #332,486 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "récentes" and "récoltés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "racontés vs récoltés". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #332,486 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