récitvsreçuWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: récit is a noun, reçu is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“récit” is a noun and “reçu” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,797
“récit” frequency rank
#813
“reçu” frequency rank
3610
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature récit reçu
Definition Exposé structuré d’événements réels ou fictifs destiné à être raconté ou lu. Qui est admis, établi, consacré.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set récit and reçu apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
récit
4 ch
reçu

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: récit is \ʁe.si\ while reçu is \ʁə.sy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3610, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

récit is recorded at frequency rank #2,797, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.si\. reçu is at rank #813, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.sy\.

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 3610, this pair ranks #433,629 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of récit vs reçu

Shared letters: r. Private to "récit": cité. Private to "reçu": euç.

"récit" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "reçu" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Frequency comparison

récit#2,797
reçu#813

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "récit" and "reçu" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "récit" is a noun and "reçu" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "récit" or "reçu"?
"reçu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #813 in our French list, against #2,797 for "récit". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering récit vs reçu

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “récit”; for an adjective, it's “reçu”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “récit” 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