reconnaissevsreconnaissezWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,391
“reconnaisse” frequency rank
#21,439
“reconnaissez” frequency rank
43830
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reconnaisse reconnaissez
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de reconnaître (ou reconnaitre). Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de reconnaître (ou reconnaitre).

Where the eye mixes reconnaisse and reconnaissez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. reconnaisse runs 11 letters (CVCVCCVVCCV) against reconnaissez's 12 (CVCVCCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
reconnaisse
12 ch
reconnaissez

Why the eye confuses reconnaisse with reconnaissez

A purely visual mix-up. reconnaisse (\ʁə.kɔ.nɛs\) and reconnaissez (\ʁə.kɔ.nɛ.se\) 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 extra letter(s) - “reconnaisse” sits inside “reconnaissez”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43830, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reconnaisse is recorded at frequency rank #22,391, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.kɔ.nɛs\. reconnaissez is at rank #21,439, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.kɔ.nɛ.se\.

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 43830, this pair ranks #215,063 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reconnaisse vs reconnaissez

Shared letters: aceinors. Private to "reconnaisse": -. Private to "reconnaissez": z.

"reconnaisse" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVVCCV  ·  "reconnaissez" · 12 letters · shape CVCVCCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reconnaisse ← erconnaisse · rceonnaisse · recconnaisse · recnonaisse · reconaisse · reconanisse · reconnaise · reconnaises
  • reconnaissez ← erconnaissez · rceonnaissez · recconnaissez · recnonaissez · reconaissez · reconanissez · reconnaisesz · reconnaisez

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "reconnaisse" and "reconnaissez" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.kɔ.nɛs\ versus \ʁə.kɔ.nɛ.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "reconnaisse" or "reconnaissez" show up more?
"reconnaissez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,439 in our French list, against #22,391 for "reconnaisse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reconnaisse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reconnaissez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #215,063 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reconnaisse" and "reconnaissez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reconnaisse vs reconnaissent". 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 #215,063 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list