Which to use
“réciter” and “relater” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,680
- “réciter” frequency rank
- #37,523
- “relater” frequency rank
- 61203
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | réciter | relater |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Prononcer à voix haute, et d’une manière soutenue, quelque discours, quelque morceau de prose ou de vers qu’on sait par cœur. | Rapporter, mentionner, citer. |
Where the eye mixes réciter and relater
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses réciter with relater
A purely visual mix-up. réciter (\ʁe.si.te\) and relater (\ʁə.la.te\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61203, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
réciter is recorded at frequency rank #23,680, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.si.te\. relater is at rank #37,523, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.la.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 61203, this pair ranks #93,532 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of réciter vs relater
Shared letters: ert. Private to "réciter": cié. Private to "relater": al.
"réciter" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "relater" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- relater ← erlater · realter · relaetr · relaterr · relatre · relatter · rellater · reltaer
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "réciter" and "relater" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "réciter" vs "relater" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "réciter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "relater" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #93,532 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "réciter" and "relater" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "relater vs relatés". 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 #93,532 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.