Which to use
“récoltent” and “reculent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,024
- “récoltent” frequency rank
- #32,556
- “reculent” frequency rank
- 71580
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | récoltent | reculent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de récolter. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de reculer. |
Where the eye mixes récoltent and reculent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. récoltent runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCC) against reculent's 8 (CVCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between récoltent and reculent
A purely visual mix-up. récoltent (\ʁe.kɔlt\) and reculent (\ʁə.kyl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71580, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
récoltent is recorded at frequency rank #39,024, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.kɔlt\. reculent is at rank #32,556, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.kyl\.
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 71580, this pair ranks #47,061 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of récoltent vs reculent
Shared letters: celnrt. Private to "récoltent": oé. Private to "reculent": u.
"récoltent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC · "reculent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- reculent ← erculent · rceulent · recculent · recluent · recuelnt · reculennt · reculentt · reculetn
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "récoltent" and "reculent" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "récoltent" or "reculent" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "récoltent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "reculent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #47,061 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "récoltent" and "reculent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recèlent vs récoltent". 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 #47,061 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.