recifevsrécifsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#49,319
“recife” frequency rank
#27,951
“récifs” frequency rank
77270
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recife récifs
Definition Récif, écueil. Pluriel de récif.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set recife and récifs apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
recife
6 ch
récifs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. recife (\ʀɨ.sˈi.fɨ\) and récifs (\ʁe.sif\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77270, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recife is recorded at frequency rank #49,319, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʀɨ.sˈi.fɨ\. récifs is at rank #27,951, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.sif\.

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 77270, this pair ranks #28,878 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of recife vs récifs

Shared letters: cfir. Private to "recife": e. Private to "récifs": .

"recife" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "récifs" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recifeercife · rceife · reccife · recfie · recief · reciffe · reicfe · rrecife

Frequency comparison

recife#49,319
récifs#27,951

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recife" and "récifs" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʀɨ.sˈi.fɨ\ versus \ʁe.sif\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "recife" or "récifs"?
"récifs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,951 in our French list, against #49,319 for "recife". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering recife vs récifs

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “recife” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list