Which to use
“recife” and “recrue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,319
- “recife” frequency rank
- #12,039
- “recrue” frequency rank
- 61358
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recife | recrue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Récif, écueil. | Levée de soldat remplaçant ceux qui manquent. |
Where the eye mixes recife and recrue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. recife (CVCVCV) and recrue (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between recife and recrue
A purely visual mix-up. recife (\ʀɨ.sˈi.fɨ\) and recrue (\ʁə.kʁy\) 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 61358, 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\. recrue is at rank #12,039, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.kʁy\.
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 61358, this pair ranks #92,699 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of recife vs recrue
Shared letters: cer. Private to "recife": fi. Private to "recrue": u.
"recife" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "recrue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "recife" and "recrue" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "recife" or "recrue"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "recife" and "recrue" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "recife" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recrue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #92,699 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recife" and "recrue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recife vs recréé". 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 #92,699 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.